


A Blossom of Dawn

by Hinganbachuru (Twilight_Joltik), The_Hidden_Boots (Captain_Tomate)



Category: Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Magical Girls, Secret Tunnels, accidental dates, magical girl au, mysterious and looming past Incidents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-08-11 00:05:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7867060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twilight_Joltik/pseuds/Hinganbachuru, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Tomate/pseuds/The_Hidden_Boots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hana Mizuno discovers that she's a magical girl. Things go downhill quickly from there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Game Start

**Author's Note:**

> This story is, quite clearly, fiction. The characters in this story, despite sometimes sharing likenesses and names with real people, are fictional. This is not meant to reflect upon real people in any way. 
> 
> That being said, enjoy the show. 
> 
> http://magical-girl-asagao.tumblr.com

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s only Hana’s first day at Asagao Academy and already she’s getting caught up in some… interesting circumstances.

Eyes bore into Hana’s skin from what felt like every direction imaginable, but really, all the eyes came from the same place. The table a few over from them, the one with several boys wearing that same green jacket the boy on the train had worn, that was where all the eyes were coming from. Swallowing a gulp, she started to wonder, had that boy told them about her? Said she was weird?

  
Take a deep breath, she told herself. No need to jump to conclusions. But, looking out of the corner of her eye, she was sure at least a few of them were glaring at her. Especially the boy holding the sketchbook, and the glasses-wearing one seemed to be as well. And a vaguely familiar looking one, she couldn’t place his exact emotions, but he seemed to be regarding her with… curiosity? Contempt? Shock? What was that?  
Nudging Mai, she took a hesitant breath and softly asked “Why are they all staring at me?”

  
“Well, like I said, we don’t get a lot of new students here!”, said Mai once more. “Especially not total main characters like you!”

  
She still had no idea what she meant by that, but she knew it wasn’t really what she had meant to ask. “Um, I mean all the boys in jackets, who are they, why are they all looking at me weird?”

  
As she said that, a boy with a beard looked suddenly startled and his eyes flitted away, almost guiltily. And Mai, her expression turned to some sort of impressed gape.

  
“Normal Boots? Looking at you?” She let out a giddy laugh. “I knew it! I knew you were special!”

  
The way she said that made it sound like something remarkable, but she didn’t understand what it meant in the slightest. “Normal Boots?”, Hana repeated. “What’s that?”

  
Mai looked momentarily dumbfounded before suddenly beginning to laugh her head off. “Right, new,” she muttered under her breath.

  
Was Mai… laughing at her? No, Mai wouldn’t do that, even if that familiar feeling of panic and all the eyes made her feel the contrary was true. “D-did I say something?”, Hana asked, trying to banish that fear. “What did I-?”

  
“Nothing, nothing,” Mai assured her, wiping a tear out of her eye from the laughing. “It’s just, well, no one knows what Normal Boots is, really!”

  
That made no sense, or at very least such a small amount it was almost negligible. “Then how do you know who they are?”, she asked.

  
“Well, I mean, we know they’re a club, and that they’re all super hot boys, especially Jared, but like,” Mai leaned in closer, her voice sliding into a stage whisper. “No one knows what their club does. No one. At all.”

  
Hana was still hopelessly lost in this conversation. “Alright, but then why would they be a big deal, if no one knows what they do?”

  
“That’s just the thing!”, Mai exclaimed, clapping her hands together. “They’re one of the school’s biggest mysteries! Are they a cult? An ancient society? A bunch of LARPers? No one knows! But you, Hana,” she took Hana’s hands in her own, that dreamy expression on her face practically glowing. “If you’ve caught their eye, maybe they’ll like, ask you to join! And you can tell me what they are!”

  
Why did Mai think she was so special? What made her so sure of that? Hana wished she could have just one ounce of that certainty in something in her life, in herself. But she didn’t say that, she just tried to smile at Mai as she let go of one of her hands and made a sweeping motion with her other.

  
“Just imagine it, Hana! It’d be a great story!”

  
She gave her friend a half-hearted nod and then turned back to her food, poking around at her ramen. For some odd reason, all her hunger had vanished.  
Mai kept chatting on in the background, but it all blended together. She seemed to be talking about all the Normal Boots members, especially this “Jared”, but none of it stuck in her ears. Everything started to feel… unfocused. Dull. Wrong.

  
With her next bite, Hana started to feel sick, like her stomach was revolting and overthrowing her as its master. Mai looked over at her, like she’d realized she’d stopped listening and seemed to be about to ask her if she was alright, but Hana interrupted.

  
“Wh-where’s the nurse’s office-?”

  
“L-lemme take you,” Mai offered. “It’s close, but you look really pale and-” She brushed her hand against her forehead, then her cheek before drawing it away and frowning. “You’re kinda clammy.”

  
Hana couldn’t refuse the offer, and found she struggled to stand up as Mai began leading her through the cafeteria once more. She felt more eyes on her as she staggered through the minefield of chairs and bags and people, but for once, that wasn’t what was worrying her. What was wrong with her, to come on so suddenly?

  
She felt like she’d collapse any second if Mai wasn’t stringing her along by the hand, she wanted more than anything just to lay down and let tears fall down her face, but no, not here, never here. Why, why, was she getting sick now? She’d been looking forward to Asagao, to a new start, and her first day would be spent in this agony? It was almost as terrible as the feeling itself, which had begun to include shivering despite the utter lack of coldness in the cafeteria.

  
But, at least, if anything, she was too involved in herself to notice where they were going until they reached the nurse’s office, so she couldn’t worry too much about people staring. She thought Mai said something, and without thinking she said “sure”, but it took her until Mai was holding open the door and Hana was staggering in that she realized what she’d said.

  
“You want me to wait outside?”

  
The answer would have been no if she’d been paying attention, but either way, she supposed.

  
A clicking noise behind her, the door had closed back, and Hana realized the entire room was dark. A few candles seemed to flicker on a cluttered desk, and she could read a nameplate on it: “Nurse: Creeps C. McPasta”.

  
In the low light, she couldn’t see a single shadow but her own, but she realized something else with a start: she felt fine. That sick feeling, the shivering, all of it- completely gone.

  
But she realized something else too: something was glowing pink, dying the room a much brighter hue. Looking around for the source, she felt a strangled gasp in her throat. It was her, a light that seemed to be coming from her very chest.

  
A voice rose up behind her, soft and oddly soothing. “You- your hair, your light, you’re the one I’ve been looking for!”

  
She whipped around and came face to face with a smiling man with wild black hair and a mask skewed to the side of his head. Something about him made her feel like running and screaming, but something else made her want to stay. There was an odd air around him, of light, of something she could only call otherworldliness.

  
“Welcome, Hana Mizuno!”, he greeted in that calming voice. “I’ve been waiting for you a very long time!”


	2. The Prophecy Awakens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Creeps tells Hana all she needs to know about being a Magical Girl. Okay, maybe not quite all…

All the air left Hana's lungs. "Wha-what do you mean?" She practically shrieked, squinting at the nurse through the bright pink light shining into her eyes.

A grin crossed his face. (Hana noted that his teeth seemed unnaturally sharp, a shiver running down her spine.) He pointed to her, or more specifically, her hair. "Well, you have pink hair! That's quite unusual, don't you think?"

Hana's hands twitched, but she kept them from reaching up to her head. "I-no! There's nothing wrong with it!" Despite all the confusion brewing in her chest, she felt rather attacked. The school nurse, a member of the staff, had commented on how "unusual" her hair was. It was always the hair, wasn't it! "I bet there's plenty of pe-people with pink hair." She shakily defended, trying to seem brave. Unfortunately, she felt her resolve flutter away, especially when Nurse McPasta let out a deep chuckle.

"But you're _very_ special." He said, matter-of-factly, "Many of those other people have probably dyed their hair, while yours is clearly natural. Not to mention that I can not only feel, but also _see_ your power." Creeps motioned to the warm pink light emanating from her.

It almost seemed to grow stronger as Hana grew more nervous. She could feel it surrounding her, almost like a veil, pulsing in time to her frantic heart, "P...Power?" She whispered, "What do you mean by power?"

"It's difficult to explain...Especially to a person like you..." Creeps hummed, smiling falling off his face as he tapped a finger against his chin. "Please take a seat, you look like you're ready to faint. I'll give you the best explanation I can." He said after a moment, waving her towards one of the beds in the room as he sat at his own desk chair. Hana did as told, shakily lowering herself onto the nearest bed and waiting for him to continue talking. Creeps crossed his legs and smiled again, looking almost like a father getting ready to tell his daughter a story, "Well, I don't want to bore you with flowery details, so I'll get to the point: You are a part of a prophecy, Miss Mizuno."

Okay...What? Hana just stared at him, disbelief filling her. Was he crazy? A _prophecy_? Before she could ask, he continued.

"I see the disbelief in your eyes. But, I would never lie about a thing such as this. This prophecy has been around for quite a while, longer than you've been alive. It's connected to a special group of people; ones that have been shown in quite a lot of Japanese media, yet others have never fancied their existence to be real: Magical Girls. Laugh all you want, but they're very much real. Anyways, before I get off track, this prophecy is told about some of the most powerful of them all!" Creeps looked excited. Hana could swear she saw a gleam of red, right where an eye would be, had his mask not cast a shadow over it. But, when she blinked, the gleam was gone.

 _A trick of the light..._ She thought to herself, focusing back on what Creeps was saying before getting too lost in thought.

"Anyways, Miss Mizuno, about...your hair, it marks you as the subject of this prophecy. See, a magical girl with pink hair is said to hold immeasurable power, and one with that power will someday determine the fate of this world. Of course, there have been pink-haired ones in the past, but, things have been kind of...bad lately. Something's coming, and it's coming soon. So it's very likely this will be you. But regardless, you're going to do _big_ things."

An uncomfortable mix of wonder, disbelief, and fear brewed in Hana's chest. A part of her was screaming, telling her that this was just some crazy fever dream, that none of this was real and that you could never be a hero; especially not one seemingly spoke of so highly. But there was another, smaller part that was saying that, yes, this is real. You're not dreaming. You are meant for much more than the bullies and your own shyness.

"This is...real, right?" Hana heard herself mutter, staring at the nurse.

He nodded, "I know this must be a lot to layer on you, but it is my job to do it." Creeps stood again, head turning to look at the clock, "I'm afraid you're late for your class...But I can simply write you a pass for it. Shizuka won't be very upset." He turned his gaze back to her, and the red glow seemed to return, along with his smile.

Before she could correct him, say that it was her first day at the academy, Hana was overwhelmed by a sudden feeling of lightheadedness, her view blurring and filling with more pink. It was burning, reminding her of strokes for lightning or white fire. She barely heard what Creeps said next; it was muffled, like her ears were filled with cotton, yet she was able to make out what he said.

__"Sleep well, Miss Mizuno...We'll be seeing much more of each other in the future..."_ _

* * *

"...ana...Hana! Wake up~!"

Hana groaned, blinking as a soft yellow light filled her sight, along with a blinding smile. Mai was staring at her, smiling softly and looking relieved, "Finally you woke up! I was starting to think that you weren't going to." The redhead exclaimed, turning her head as she grabbed something from the bedside table, bringing it into Hana's line of sight soon after. A water bottle. The cool plastic hit Hana's fingertips before she was even aware that she has stretched her hand out.

"Drink up, okay? Nurse McPasta said that you were slightly dehydrated." Mai said, crossing the room and opening the closet, grabbing Hana's other uniform. She tossed it onto the foot of Hana's bed, before grabbing her own, "I'll be back!" She sang, before going to get dressed in the bathroom.

Unscrewing the cap, Hana raised the bottle to her lips and drank, grateful for the iciness that rushed down her dry throat. A thousand questions were flying around her head, especially the ones regarding "what happened?" She had hazy memories of what the odd nurse had told her, but was doubting that anything about the conversation had been true, that she wasn't just sick or dehydrated or whatever. Still, she couldn't quite convince herself that any of those were the case.

Maybe...she really was a Magical Girl?

Hana shook her head, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "That's impossible..." She whispered, wincing at her own hoarse voice, "I'm not meant to be a hero..."

The door flew open, suddenly, causing a yelp to leave Hana's lips. There was Mai, eyes sparkling and big. She looked like a kid on Christmas, closing the door and eagerly making her way to Hana's bedside. "Did you say hero?" She almost squealed, making Hana blink.

"Uh...Yes?" She said, biting her lip and looking to the side. Dammit, Mai had been listening in. Hana felt stupid, talking about what was mostly likely a made-up event, when Mai could hear what she was saying. It buried the slightly betrayed feeling of being actually listened in on.

Another squeal, this one almost popping her eardrums. Mai grabbed Hana's hands, her smile so wide now that Hana could swear that her face would split in half. "This is great! This has to be what you're meant to do, Hana! You're the main character, after all, you need to do _something._ What kind of hero are you meant to be?"

"Um..." Should she even tell her? Mai was her friend, after all, but...Hana just didn't want to lose her. Then again, it was _Mai_ _;_ someone who occasionally talked like she was watching an anime, instead of in real life, and was very understanding in many aspects. Hana sighed, shoulders slumping, feeling as Mai gently squeezed her hands. "A...Magical Girl? It's some sort of prophecy, it's probably not even real. I was sick and-"

Mai put a finger to Hana's lips, looking more serious than Hana had ever seen her. "I never thought this was real..." She whispered, lips starting to quirk upwards, "I never thought...Oh, Hana!" She started to laugh, "I saw so many articles and conspiracy theories online about this, but...Oh, wow. This is so cool! I thought this would be like one of those boring high school romance anime series! But I never expected this to happen."

She wrapped her arms around Hana's waist, practically crushing the smaller girl's ribs. "I'll support you all the way, Hana!" She shouted, before gasping and releasing the hug, jumping back, "But we have to go to class! I heard that Miss Shizuka had another bad breakup, so she might be even madder if we're late! Come on, get your uniform on and we'll grab some breakfast!"

Hana blinked, her uniform getting tossed onto her face. She stood up, stumbling slightly before righting herself, and went to go get dressed. _Well...at least Mai was understanding._ That was all she could think as relief filled her. She was always able to count on Mai. It was surprising, to say the least, even more so that Mai seemed to know about what she was saying...Even though she wasn't understanding much of this herself.

But Hana had a feeling, deep in her stomach, that everything would become clear sooner than she thought...


	3. Unexpected Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hana decides to go on her first hunt to find a monster to defeat. Shame she doesn’t have any idea what counts as a monster.

Hana was so sure she’d come to understand the “magical girl” thing quickly.

And yet it’d been a good few days since that all had happened, and she didn’t understand it any more. If anything, she was even more confused.

She did feel different, at least. Not a good different, really, but not so much a bad one either. Everything felt oddly new in a way that couldn’t be quite explained by the novelty of Asagao itself.

But in a way, things were starting to feel a little familiar. She got the lay of the land quickly, thanks to Mai. Her new teacher she learned quickly from Mai had a long history of bad and frequent breakups and was prone to assigning more homework the worse it got. Those three weird kids at the front of the class in yellow were apparently another one of the school’s clubs, but Mai didn’t seem to care about them half as much as she did Normal Boots. Jared was a year up from them and Mai seemed to time leaving for lunch just right to catch a glimpse of him on the way to the cafeteria.

Despite all of that, she was no closer to learning who or what she was, what she’d become. Mai said she should ask Creeps, but somehow that seemed wrong. Didn’t she need to figure out who and what she was for herself? Find for herself what she should do?

She gave up on that line of thinking a few days in, because agh, she just wanted to know! What was she supposed to be saving the world from, exactly? No monsters had taken over any classmates, teachers, or local shop owners yet, no mysterious masked hero had appeared in her dreams, so what was she meant to do?

After class, she went to the door to Creeps’ office, and made to knock it, but it opened before she could do a thing. A boy in a green jacket strode out, but stopped as he seemed to notice her. She felt his eyes piercing through her, lingering far too long on her hair.

Her heart was pounding, she was terrified, but no, she told herself, she had to be strong, she had to stick up for herself. How could she save the world if she couldn’t even save a single encounter?

“Um, hello,” she greeted. “I-” The boy looked straight at her, and suddenly, she remembered the same blue eyes bearing into her before. Quite a few times, in fact. “Um, wait, you’re in my class, right?”

The boy nodded, but his glare didn’t lighten.

Forcing herself to smile, she extended a hand to him. “I don’t believe we’ve properly met. I’m Hana, Hana Mi-”

“Mizuno, I know,” he interrupted, his voice carrying a rather thick British accent. Instead of taking her hand, he simply walked past her. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m quite busy.”

That left her gaping at empty air for a few minutes, but she shook her head. No, she was fine.

And as she walked into the Nurse’s Office, she found Creeps at his desk, seemingly flipping through some papers. It took him a few seconds to notice her presence, but he smiled widely as he looked up.

“Ah, how’s everything going, Miss Mizuno?”, Creeps questioned, and Hana really wasn’t quite sure what to say.

“Well, I, um, I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do, to be quite honest,” she explained. “Am I supposed to go looking for monsters? Or will they find me? How do I use my powers?”

Creeps’s smile faltered. “Oh, so he didn’t- well, that makes sense, I guess he’s never been the most straightforward guy…”

“Who are you talking about?”, she questioned, and Creeps simply shook his head.

“Oh, I have a feeling you’ll find out soon enough,” he said far too cryptically. “But in the meantime, well, I’d say it’s fair enough for you to just go out and see what you can find!”

What did he mean? See what she could find? “Are you telling me to look for monsters?”, she questioned.

“Not monsters, per say,” Creeps corrected while glancing at the papers on his desk once more. They seemed to not be files of any sort, but drawings? And she couldn’t tell for the life of her what they were meant to be, they just seemed to be violent scribbles.

After a moment, Creeps added “Just… well, your job is to protect people now. And there are plenty of dangers abound in this world. So, go out there, find someone to protect!”

This plan sounded like an awful one, but she nodded in agreement. Creeps, whoever he was, surely knew more about this than her, so if he said it was a good idea, it had to be, right?

However, after three seconds of thought, she discovered a rather gaping hole in this plan. “But… wouldn’t that require me leaving the school grounds?”

“There’s nowhere in the rules that prohibits that,” he assured her. “And trust me, I have had to make sure of that more times than I would care to recall.”

“Right but, my issue was more that I have no idea where anything is in Higanbana, let alone where to look for people to protect.”

Creeps nodded, and stood up suddenly from his desk. “Well, okay, that is a fair point, but I believe I know a place good for patrol. Just keep going straight until you can’t anymore, then go right and keep going until you get out.”

Those directions seemed a bit… lacking. “Straight from where? Out of the school?”

Walking over to a filing cabinet, Creeps shoved it aside to reveal a gaping hole with… steps?

“Wh-what is that?”, Hana shrieked as she peered into the darkness. “Is that- does that go underground?”

“It indeed does,” Creeps stated. “It’s a secret passageway, these things are all over the school, some of them even lead out!”

Hana hesitantly approached the secret passageway. It was pitch-black, it seemed, but just as she was about to question how she was meant to find her way around in there, Creeps handed her a flashlight.

“You might want this,” he offered. Oh, she “might”, would she?

But as much as she wanted to snap, some part of her was excited. What would she find on the other side?

“Do I go now?”, she questioned. Creeps nodded.

And so she held her breath as she slowly started down the steps and turned the flashlight on. It shone on grey-brown walls that seemed to be something between plaster and stone. The passage felt oddly moist, a bit unclean, and smelled like dirt and decay. As she heard what had to be Creeps pushing the cabinet back behind her, she was tempted to scream.

She made herself continue, though, and it became less and less frightening. For one, her flashlight would fall onto bits of graffiti here or there, assuring her she wasn’t the only one to ever use it. A doodle of a kitty, a sign with three triangles stacked on top of each other, some strange glyphs that seemed to be in a language she didn’t understand nor recognize, a few lines of multicolored paint, and of course a plethora of profanity littered the walls. It was a phone number away from being the back of a bathroom stall door!

Though at times it became claustrophobic, in what felt like both an eternity and a rather short period of time, she arrived at the exit Creeps had told her about. As she climbed the stairs, her heart pounded. Would she fine some monster at the top? Someone whose life needed saving? She wanted to run, but no, she couldn’t turn back, not now.

But, as she climbed the stairs, she found herself coming into an empty alleyway, and all her hope melted away. God, her dad would freak out if he knew she was in such a place! She was freaking out from knowing she was in such a place!

Faintly, a glow of pink filled her vision, and she remembered her purpose for having come. She needed to learn how to be a Magical Girl. Such a dangerous place was where she needed to be.

And faintly, she heard a voice behind her as she started to take deep breaths. “Who the hell are you?”

Whipping around, she came face-to-face with an orange-clad, dark haired man. He didn’t look menacing so much as he did annoyed, save for the metal rod he was holding.

Her voice rose an octave as she spoke. “Um, I- I…”

“You have pink hair,” he remarked. “So you have to be a Magical Girl, right?”

Wait, he knew? Well, the weapon gave that away, but it was almost reassuring. “Um, yes! Creeps told me this was a good place to hunt for monsters. Are you hunting them too, by any chance?”

The man let out a few chuckles, and a broken, manic grin appeared on his face. “Hunting them? Oh, you poor girl. Don’t you know a monster when you see one?”

He cracked the rod through the air, a bolt of lightning flew a bit too close to her face.

“N-no, please, I- I won’t hurt you!”, she assured him.

Another crack of lightning, it seemed the man was… pouting? “Aw, come on! You’re a Magical Girl, fight me! I haven’t had a good challenge all week!”

As her breathing became uneven, that pink glow grew stronger. She closed her eyes. That was right, she was a Magical Girl, she could fight…

The air around her became burning hot, and when she opened her eyes, she felt distinctly different. More powerful. And her hands closed around two… fans? They were beautiful, with patterns resembling amaryllis flowers, but were they supposed to be weapons?

Well, she’d take what she could get. She struck the air with them, and a blast of wind and pink petals appeared in front of her. The man gaped, but quickly assumed a grin. “Not bad,” he muttered. “Now, let’s see if you can take… this!”

Two bolts of lightning rushed towards her, and without thinking, she held the fans in front of herself like shields. Somehow, it seemed to work, as the lightning was sent flying towards the walls of the alley.

Swinging them out again, Hana lunged forward, and the blades of petals and wind rushed straight into the enemy, who stumbled backwards.

For a second, he looked like he was on the verge of laughter, and held the rod above his head before his eyes suddenly widened and he started stumbling backwards.

Hana looked around to see what he could be running from, and her eyes fell on a man who seemed to have some sort of mechanical wings attached to his arms. To be fair, it probably wasn’t the strangest thing she’d seen that day. But, she quickly noticed he too was wearing a green jacket, the Normal Boots Club jacket.

No, he was in her homeroom too. Mai had told her his name already, it was Jontron. Er, Jon.

“That’s right, just go home, Arin,” Jon barked at the quickly retreating man, who seemed to vanish into nothing before he reached the back of the alley.

All Hana could do was gape as Jon’s annoyed expression relaxed into a slight smile. “Now, I guess you’re a Magical Girl too, aren’t you?”

“Too?”, Hana repeated. “But…”

She looked at his wings, at the bird with glowing eyes on his shoulder, at his cocky grin at her words. “You’re a… Magical Girl?”

He nodded.

“But… you’re a guy?”

“Well, look, I didn’t choose the name, but it’s not exactly a female-only field,” Jon explained. “But that doesn’t matter right now. What matters is the fact that you came here. Alone. With next to no experience.”

Her cheeks started to burn, as did her eyes. Was it really that dangerous? “Um… Mr. McPasta told me to do it?”

Jon let out a loud laugh. “Yeah, that makes sense. I don’t think he would have hurt you, but it’s good that I came along when I did.”

Though she nodded, a thought suddenly occurred to Hana before she could thank him. “But wait, you- you’re in Normal Boots, right?”

“That’s right!”

Well, now was her chance. To get Mai her answer. “Are you… all Magical Girls?”, she asked.

“Well, not all of us,” Jon remarked. “Peebs and Shane aren’t really, but, well…”

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and glanced at it. “You know what?”, he offered. “You should come with me.”

“Come where?”, Hana questioned.

“Emergency Normal Boots Meeting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to get up! Life happened and stuff. Luckily, one of the coauthors just wrapped up a story, so she'll be able to work harder on this one! We hope to bring updates more consistently from here on out!
> 
> Also, just a small note: yes, we said three Hidden Block members were in Hana's class, not two. Not an error, but an intentional change. There's a good reason, we swear, all will be revealed in time...


	4. The Magical Girl Club

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Jon invites Hana to an emergency meeting of the Normal Boots Club, she quickly realizes things aren’t quite as straightforward as she might have hoped.

Hana's heart was pounding, threatening to break free from her chest, by the time she and Jon arrived at the club room. "Emergency Meeting," what was that even supposed to mean? But Jon was beaming, as if nothing at all was wrong, walking like he was in some sort of parade as she trailed behind him. Really, she supposed the only thing she needed to fear was the bird on his shoulder. But she tried to ignore it, and as the door to the clubroom was dramatically swung open by Jon, she could almost imagine things would be fine. At least until she glanced around the room and found the guy who she'd run into outside Creeps' office.

He frowned at her for a minute, eyes slightly narrowed, before looking down at what he had been doing before the two had come in. It looked like he was drawing, a sketchbook balanced on his knees and pencil in hand. Two other boys were in the room as well, looking at her as well. One looked more surprised than anything, green eyes round, while the other had a look of slight distrust. Had she already managed to make them distrust her? How?

"Where are the others?" Jon asked, looking around the room, like he was waiting for other people to jump out of the shadows. The bird on his shoulder ruffled its feathers.

"They couldn't come." The green-eyed boy shrugged, "Paul's working on his campaign stuff with Nick and Josh; Jirard is doing...Jirard things; Jared had an 'important phone call,' according to Satch." He pointed to the boy sitting beside him, supposedly Satch, who nodded.

Sighing, Jon walked farther into the room and took a chair, "Great." He muttered, "Well, they have to be here. This is important club business, everyone has to make their decision."

"And, what, by chance, does that have to do with her?" The British boy looked up from his sketchbook again, glaring daggers at Jon. 

“We talked about this, Shane!”, Jon exclaimed. “And I saw her fighting, PBG was right, she’s definitely something special.”

Hana felt her cheeks grow red. They’d been talking about her? No, scratch that, she’d been called ‘something special’? By PBG, hadn’t Mai mentioned him too? Wait…

She glanced at the green-eyed boy, whose eyes darted away from her as if in embarrassment. That was his name, wasn’t it? So he was on her side? So why did he seem so uneasy around her?

To confirm this, Jon called out to him. “Hey, PBG, where did you say Jirard was?”

And indeed, the green-eyed boy responded with a shrug. “I dunno, I think he was just in his room or something. Want me to go get him?”

“Yes, please do,” Jon directed, and he let out a sigh as he rose from his seat. “And Satch, how long is Jared’s ‘phone call’ gonna be?”

Satch adjusted his glasses as he looked up at Jon. “Hard to say, but I don’t think we should go after him. Probably won’t be too long, anyhow.”

Jon nodded thoughtfully. “I see… And I’m guessing the other three are in an empty classroom?”

“I can get them too!”, PBG exclaimed, already halfway out the door. 

“Yeah and don’t let them pull that ‘the student body is more important than a club meeting’ bull,” Jon added. “I’ll bet you they’re just screwing around in there.”

Waving as he exited the room, PBG slammed the door shut, and Jon let out a long, drawn out sigh before turning to the two remaining fellow club members. “Okay, please, just don’t say anything until the others get back!”, he begged them in a stage whisper. “This is actually important, we need to assess the situation before anyone starts shutting anything down.”

What was he talking about? Hana genuinely had no clue, so she just stood sort of awkwardly in the corner of the room as Shane rolled his eyes and started back with his sketchbook. And Satch, he just sort of sat there, like he was trying very hard not to look at her or think of anything. The sun had started to set, and the golden light made his eyes look an eerie red. 

The silence was killing her, she wanted some answers, so shakily, she approached Jon, the bird on his shoulder turning to look at her long before he did. 

A robotic voice pierced the air, the bird’s eyes lit up red. “The girl is confused idiot, you should have told her more.”

Hana jumped backwards. No, that bird, did it just… talk? It couldn’t be, right? That wasn’t possible!

...she, the Magical Girl who had just fought a guy with lightning powers and gotten saved by a guy with mechanized bird wings, thought. 

But still, Jon turned around to confirm her suspicion and snapped at the bird. “I was getting to that part!”, he insisted. 

“You had an entire secret tunnel to tell her,” the bird flatly retorted. 

Jon visibly recoiled from that and huffed in annoyance. “I have my reasons, Jacques. But 

someone- nay, five someones ruined my plan by not being here on time!”

Hana bit her lip, trying to find a way to diffuse the tension between the two, but was kept from doing so by the door slamming back open. Another boy stood in the doorway, looking panicked and tired, his jacket appeared to have been thrown on hastily.

“Sorry I’m late Jon, I slept through your texts!” He exclaimed, laughing anxiously and rubbing the back of his head. Hana thought she saw his eyes flicker over to where Shane was, but the movement was so quick that she couldn’t be sure, “I had to do a lot of studying last night…”

Jon waved a hand, “It’s fine Jirard. You gotta keep those straight A’s somehow, huh?”

Jirard laughed again, more genuinely this time around, but seemingly to notice Hana’s awkward presence in the room. He blinked at her, before a bright and welcoming smile crossed his face, “Hey there!”

“Hi…” Hana mumbled, smiling back at him.

He extended a hand to her. “It's nice to finally meet you! My name’s Jirard!”

Uneasily, Hana took it. What did he mean “finally”? They'd only known of each other's existence for a few days, tops! 

But his grin was infectious, and she found that unease dissolving as he shook her hand rather vigorously. “If you ever need anything, just let me know, alright?”

“Okay,” she muttered, wondering why on earth this guy was already being so nice. He was a far cry from the coldness of the other club members, bar Jon. 

Shane seemed to shoot Jirard an uneasy glare. “Really?”, he questioned. 

Jirard let go of her hand and spun around to face him. “Oh, come on, she seems nice!”, Jirard protested. “You don't know her, so just… give her the benefit of the doubt, alright?”

The… benefit of the doubt? About what? Hana honestly had no idea what was going on anymore, and let out a sigh as she raised her hand, as if begging Miss Shizuka to call on her. 

Jon pointed to her like a teacher would. “Yes, Hana?”

“I'm sorry, but did I miss something?”, she questioned. “What… what's going on here?”

Satch let out a loud sigh. “You mean… you seriously didn't explain anything to her?”

“I was planning to!”, Jon shouted. “But, I guess now’s as good a time as any.”

Hana let out a sigh of relief. The mechanical voice, Jacques, let out a similar, deadpan, “oh thank god”.

“Anyhow, you, Hana, are a Magical Girl. We are also Magical Girls.”

That name still didn't make any sense to her, but she didn't feel like questioning it. 

Jon went on, pointing to the bird- er, Jacques. “And, from the words of both my good friend Jacques here and our very own Nurse McPasta, we can assume you are a very powerful one. But you're unskilled.”

“That doesn't mean it's our job to-” 

“Silence, Satch, I've rehearsed this,” Jon exclaimed. “Anyhow, because of your…” He glanced at her hair. Hana felt her cheeks burn. “Skillset, we've discussed perhaps taking you on as an apprentice of sorts, showing you the ropes.”

Under his breath, Shane muttered something ending in “...not what you said”. 

“However!” Jon suddenly jerked straight up and started pacing across the room. “It seems there is some… dissent on these terms within the club. So, we decided to put it to a vote whenever faced with the decision. And we are, now, faced with the decision.” 

She gaped at Jon. Surely he couldn't be serious? Experienced magical girls, such popular ones, even, offering to help her? To train her? 

But, Hana felt the glares piercing her skin. She let out a shudder. If they didn't want her, she didn't want to bother them. 

“You okay, Hana?”, Jirard questioned. 

Shakily, she gave a nod. “Yeah I just… would that really be alright?”

At the same time, Jirard let out an enthusiastic “Of course!”, and Shane scoffed an “Absolutely not!” They looked at each other, and while Shane sighed, Jirard gave a sheepish grin. 

“See, this is why we needed everyone here!”, Jon exclaimed. “With just the four of us, we can't break any ties!” 

The door opened again as Jon finished his statement. PBG, followed by three unfamiliar boys, walked into the room. Green eyes landed on Jirard, and a visible relief seemed to spread through PBG, “Great, you’re here, I thought I wouldn’t be able to find you!”

One of the new boys, the one with brown eyes, looked at Hana. He smiled, “So, you’re Hana right? PBG talks about you a lot!” - PBG’s cheeks turned pink - “I’m Paul, my friends are Nick and Josh. It’s nice to meet you properly!” He grabbed her hand, shaking it more gently and slower than what Jirard had done. As if she was delicate, like a flower, and would break without proper care.

She watched as Nick and Josh rolled their eyes behind Paul’s back, looking somewhat amused. “So,” Nick was the one who spoke up, “What’s this meeting for?”

“We’re basically having a vote on whether or not we should let Hana become our apprentice of sorts!” Jon said, clapping his hands together, before letting his eyes do a quick scan of the room, “And, since we have most of us, we can go ahead and do it. We can probably get Jared’s input later if it’s a tie.”

Paul nodded, crossing his arms in front of his chest, “So, how are we going to go about this?”

“The simplest way; raising hands.” Jon responded, smiling.

Afterwards, Hana watched as Paul leaned close to Josh and whispered something that appeared to be “child’s play” into his ear.

“So, all in favor of letting Hana join, raise your hands now!”

Four hands went up. Jon (of course), Jirard, Paul, and PBG; the only surprising one was Paul. She didn’t even know much about the guy, but he was sticking up for her? That was...sweet. He would be a good friend to have.

“Alright, four of us. All in favor of  _ not  _ letting Hana join?”

Another four hands. Satch, Shane, Nick, and Josh. Nick and Josh had fixed her with the same looks as Satch and Shane, but they seemed more...on edge. At least, from what Hana could tell by their expressions alone. It was like they were anticipating her attacking them.

“So, a clean split?” PBG said, putting his hands in his pockets. “We’ll need Jared’s tie-breaker then.”

A collective nod swept through the group, before Satch stood up, “I can go check and see if his call is done, if you need me too.”

Jon shook his head, “Nah, he’ll come soon enough. No sense for you to go all the way back to Bluebell or wherever he is, if it’s just a normal length call. But for now, we’re undecided, so we just have to-”

"Hey hey waaaaait I'm here sorry I had to take care of something!" Another boy, one that was undoubtedly Jared, practically tripped into the club room. For a moment, Hana wondered if this was maybe a different person than the one she'd seen on the train, the one Mai had been gushing about. He seemed all too flustered, with very little of that poise she remembered from him. But to be fair, he was still definitely sparkling.

He straightened himself out, fixing his jacket and smiling at the room, “So, what did I miss?” Okay, the suaveness was back. And quickly.

“We’re voting on whether or not to let Hana join us, so we can train her and help her with her powers.” Shane filled him in with a grumble, fixing him an annoyed look.

Jared blinked, before looking at Hana. A bright grin spread across his face, “Well, I don’t see why she can’t! She was very nice on the train here, so we should help her hone her skills, if she’s a Magical Girl as well.”

“It’s decided then!” Jon hopped up, eyes sparkling with excitement, “From this point on, Hana Mizuno is now a trainee of the Normal Boots club!”

Hana felt the glares return to her, but she swallowed her nervousness so there was room for excitement. This would be an...interesting experience. Hopefully, the ones against her didn’t hold on to that train of thought for very long...


	5. Mentor and Mentored

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Good news: Hana’s finally getting some proper training as a Magical Girl. Bad news: her trainers are a thespian and a bird.

The meeting didn't drag on forever, and soon enough Hana found herself outside her dorm, Jon walking down the hall from walking her to her room, having wanted to outline their possible training schedule. Yawning and rubbing her eyes underneath her glasses, Hana pushed the door to the room open. Instantly, she heard a shout of "Hana!" come from the upper bunk of the bed.

 

“M-Mai!”, she stuttered out in surprise. Mai leaned down in a way that made her terribly nervous she’d faceplant on the floor as Hana entered the room and threw her jacket onto her own bed. 

 

“Where were you, anyways?”, Mai questioned. A surge of panic seized Hana’s stomach. Could she say? Mai’d been so curious, but what was she even supposed to say?

 

It seemed Mai was already thinking a few steps ahead, though, as her eyebrows raised and a wicked smirk crossed her face. “Oh, it was  _ that _ , was it? Did you meet your Mysterious Masked Savior? Or at very least a Salor Hermes?”

 

She’d hardly call Jon the mysterious type, and she supposed he hadn’t saved her so much as just ended the fight prematurely. But, as her eyes darted around, Mai seemed to get something in her head and laughed, clasping her hands together. 

 

“I knew it!”, she exclaimed. “Only a few days in, and my little Hana’s already got herself an amazing plotline! You’ve gotta tell me, was he cute?”

 

Without thinking, Hana shrugged, and Mai’s eyes somehow lit up even more. 

 

“So there was someone?”

 

A deep breath, and she tried to recall, but she really didn’t think anyone had said not to tell. Even still, she wasn’t sure they’d appreciate that, especially since so many had been hesitant at her includement. 

 

But it was Mai, her roommate, someone she already considered a close friend, even though it’d only a few days. Her best friend, really her only friend, was waiting on baited breath, and she had information she knew she’d want to hear. 

 

So she let out a sigh. “I’ll tell you, but please, don’t repeat it.”

 

Mai pantomimed zipping her lips. "I promise I won't tell! My lips are sealed."

 

And so she divulged the details, of the secret tunnels that Mai took a bit too much interest in, of fight that’d lasted only a minute, of the fact the Normal Boots Club were all magical girls, (something she muttered “should have known” to) and when she got to the meeting, her friend’s jaw dropped. 

 

“You’re kidding!”, Mai gasped. “They invited you? To their meeting?”

 

Hana nodded. “Yeah, and, um, they sorta agreed to help me train and stuff, sort of an apprenticeshi-”

 

Letting out a squeal, Mai buried her face in a pillow. “Oh my god, they want you to join?”

 

“No!”, Hana corrected hastily. 

 

Looking up from the pillow, Mai cocked her head to the side and a confused frown settled on her face. “No? Why not?”

 

“Well, probably because half of them hate me…”

 

“Is it that Shane guy?”, Mai questioned. “Don’t worry about him, he’s… well, they say some stuff happened to him at his old school. Not sure what, but maybe it’s a Magical Girl thing?”

 

Hadn’t Jon said he didn’t have powers? Well, either way, he probably had to be in their club for a reason. “Well, it’s not just him, though,” Hana continued. “This guy named Satch, and these other two- Nick and Josh, I think? They voted against me teaming up with them.”

 

Eyes widening, Mai looked at her like she’d just said that they had accused her of robbery or murder. “Satch? But he’s like, super nice! Why would he be against you?”

 

“I don’t know,” Hana admitted. “He seemed sort of cold, to be honest.”

 

Mai shrugged. “Eh, maybe it was some magic thing. But Paul, Nick, and Josh? Really, them?”

 

“Actually, Paul was on my side,” Hana corrected.

 

Her roommate looked entirely disbelieving of this fact. “Whoa, seriously?”

 

Hana nodded. “Why, is that weird?” 

 

“Those three- Paul, Nick, and Josh- are pretty much as close as you can get,” Mai explained, tossing a pen into the air. “I mean, they fight all the time, but I’ve never heard of them actually disagreeing on an issue like that!”

 

Something about the way she said that made them sound more like a hivemind than actual, individual people, and Hana felt a cold shiver run down her spine. That wasn’t how they’d come across to her, at least. 

 

“Well, Paul seemed nice, at least.”

 

A smile spread across Mai’s face. “Well, I’m sure the other two will come around, if he believes in you!”

 

She sounded so certain, so hopeful. And all Hana felt was drained. Too much had happened today, she just wanted to sleep, or at least just turn off for a few hours. Magical Girl stuff could wait.

 

* * *

 

And, in fact, it ended up waiting until Friday evening, when a sharp knocking on her door roused her out of a manga Mai had loaned her. It took her a minute to pull herself away, the three girls that’d fallen into a magical realm were really starting to pull her in, but the knocking just grew more incessant.

 

Whipping the door open, she saw a girl she recognized from being in her class- Kakusu, was it?- standing before her, an absentminded smile on her face. “Salutations, Hana Mizuno. I have a message to deliver to you.”

 

“You do?”

 

An odd whirring pierced the air as Kakusu nodded. “Yes, indeed. It appears Jon Jafari has a message he wishes to be passed along to you.”

 

She proceeded to read out the message without stopping for breath. “Re: Can you help a guy out, question mark. Tell Hana, parenthesis, your room’s next to her’s, right, question mark, close parenthesis, that I need her to come to the soccer field A-S-A-P. Thanks, semicolon, dash, close parenthesis.”

 

“He- he wants me to come to the soccer field?”, Hana stuttered out. 

 

Another nod, more mechanized whirring, Hana started to doubt Kakusu was entirely human. “It appears that is the case.”

 

“Um, alright…”, Hana agreed without a thought. “But- where is-?”

 

A voice called out from her dorm. “Past the cafeteria, can’t miss it!”

 

“Yes, Mai Sasaki’s directions are accurate,” Kakusu affirmed. “But, if you need further guidance-”

 

“No, I’ll be fine,” Hana assured her. 

 

Shuffling past Kakusu, she felt her heart start to pound. Would everyone else be there? What about Shane and Satch? Was Mai right, would Nick and Josh come around?

 

But, more importantly, what did Jon have in mind?

 

* * *

 

Thankfully, it was only Jon- okay, Jon and Jacques, and the bird really didn’t make her feel much better, but between him and Shane, she’d choose the bird every time. 

 

“So, Hana, you must be wondering why I called you here,” Jon declared upon her arrival, as if talking to a crowd of people rather than an empty field of two people and a bird. 

 

But to be frank, she wasn’t really wondering why she’d been called at all. “Well, to train, right?”

 

“Wrong!”, he exclaimed, swinging his arms across his body in a way that made her afraid he’d hit her in the face, despite standing several feet away. . 

 

A mechanized voice corrected him. “Actually, that is accurate.”

 

“But you can’t train someone who doesn’t have skills yet,” Jon protested. Hana considered objecting to that statement, but thought better of it. “We must discover the functions of her powers first!”

 

“The entire point of training someone is to develop their skills,” Jacques countered. 

 

Jon sighed and shook his head. “Training is honing your skills, not making them exist!”

 

Jacques turned his head away from Jon, eyes glowing a creepy color. “I would know, I believe I trained you plenty when you had no skills to speak of.”

 

Had she… heard the bird right? “Wait, you trained him?”

 

“Oh, yes indeed,” Jon proclaimed. “Jacques was my mentor in the art of magic!”

 

“The bird was?”

 

Could that creature really be something magical? Well, he could speak in full sentences, had glowing eyes, and seemed a bit too sarcastic to have the intelligence of a normal bird, so she was leaning towards yes. 

 

“I taught him everything he knows,” Jacques proclaimed. 

 

“And now!”, Jon transitioned, taking a step towards her. “I’m gonna teach you everything I know!”

 

Hana nodded. “I’m ready to learn. Where do we start?”

 

She prayed it would be something nice and easy, like breathing exercises.

 

But no, it was Jon, he didn’t seem to be one for simplicity. So it really didn’t surprise her when, in a flurry of green light, he regrew the mechanical wings from the other day. They seemed to somehow be able to come out of the jacket he was wearing without much trouble, she had to wonder if maybe he’d put slits for them in it. Or maybe slits grew with the jacket? Given his undershirt had changed to some puffy shirt with roughly the same coloring as any given cartoon tropical bird, it didn’t seem out of the question. 

 

“Let us do battle!”, Jon proclaimed. 

 

Finding nothing coming out of her mouth but dry stutters, Hana just sort of stared at him.  

 

“I mean, just a training fight,” he clarified. “Just to get the hang of your powers better before any more actual fights.”

 

That seemed reasonable enough. She nodded and tried to recall how she’d transformed before. A sudden focus and revelation that she could fight, or something like that. She closed her eyes and tried to think.

 

And, as her eyes reopened to a pink glow, she found the same fans in her hand, and a purple yukata on her figure. Strange, she didn’t remember that part from last time. Had she just been too adrenaline-filled to notice, or was it new?

 

“I- um, won’t hurt you, right?”, she asked, holding the fans out. 

 

A knife whizzed by her face, only a few inches away. Jon’s eyebrows raised as she gave him an accusatory look. She took that as a no.

 

The fans felt like swords in her grasp, and as she rushed forward, it felt like the air itself was pushing her forward. Crossing them in front of herself, she let out a spray of… light? What was that? It was glowing, but she couldn’t tell what exactly she’d done. 

 

Some of the lights hit Jon, but most of them just scattered on the ground, leaving faint spots on their impact. 

 

In return, Jon waved his arms frantically, and the wings flapped him a few feet off the ground, then a few feet more. Higher and higher he rose until he suddenly tuned his body towards her and began to fall rapidly. 

 

She suddenly realized his tactic: he was about to divebomb her. 

 

Suddenly, Hana panicked, all the nerve leaving her and being replaced with fear. She closed her eyes, bracing for impact, but a bright glow made her open them once more.

 

The glowing spots on the ground from that first attack had sprouted vines, and they seemed to be trying to hold Jon back. She couldn’t see well through their brightness, so until another knife landed a few feet from her, she wasn’t too sure what was going on. 

 

But as soon as the knife landed, the glowing went away, the vines disintegrated, and Jon less divebombed her and more just fell in her general direction.

 

The next thing Hana knew, she was sprawled on the ground, back in her school uniform. Miraculously and thankfully, it seemed unscathed, but she couldn’t say the same of herself. One knee was so scrapped it was bleeding, the other didn’t seem too far from it, and everything sort of hurt. 

 

Hana tried to rise but could only really make it as far as her hands and knees. “Please,” she begged. “I need a break!”

 

Jon stopped in his tracks, the wings and everything vanishing in another bright green flash. “Two minutes?”

 

She looked up and nodded. He tossed her a water bottle that she couldn’t quite figure out the source of. Either way, as she drank it, she felt life rushing back into her lungs. 

 

After a moment, she sat down and looked up at the sky. It was nearly sunset, a lovely gold was starting to tint the edges of the horizon. 

 

All at once, Hana felt overwhelmed. She’d really just done all that, hadn’t she? All of this was real: Asagao was real, Normal Boots were real, Mai was real, Creeps was real, and she herself was very real, judging by how much the skid marks were starting to sting. Even just from that last battle, she already felt like she was improving. 

 

That last battle, come to think of it, there was something she was pretty curious about.  “Um, Jon, I was wondering…”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“That guy I was fighting the other day, how did you get him to run like that? Are you just that strong that your reputation precedes you?”, she guessed. “Or had you fought him before and beat him up?” 

 

Either way didn’t quite explain how he knew his name, and something about how Jon was reacting made her sure neither was quite right. 

 

He let out a strained laugh. “Well, um, truth is, I knew him, back before he fought for… well, the other side.”

 

So many questions popped into her head. So he had been an evildoer? Jon knew him? He used to be good? What happened?

 

“We were teammates, actually,” Jon added, clearing up at least one of the other questions. “I- I’d rather not talk about it right now, to be honest.”

 

“Sorry!”, Hana hastily apologized. She’d dragged up bad memories, hadn’t she? She of all people knew how much something like that could hurt. 

 

He waved it off. “Nevermind that, you’ve been doing well, Hana. Want to go another round?

 

“Offer her something in return, you imbecile,” Jacques blurted out. 

 

“Um… and then we can go get ice cream?”

 

Another round didn’t sound fun, but the latter part was quite tempting. “A-alright!”, she agreed. 

 


	6. A Misunderstanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hana accidentally overhears a discussion between a few Normal Boots members about an incident that occurred two years ago and instantly becomes curious.

"Faster!", Jon yelled. "Come on, keep going!"  
  
Hana tried to send out more waves of petals from her fans, but they just wouldn't come.  
  
"You can do more," insisted Jacques.  
  
But no, she couldn't. She felt faint.  
  
"I'm sorry!", she shrieked over the wind. "I- I…"  
  
Collapsing to the ground on hands and knees, she found herself in her school uniform once more. "C-can't do this…", Hana finished, gasping for air.  
  
Instead of helping her up or even getting mad, Jon just shrugged and started to walk off. "Well, that's fine. I have to go to rehearsal anyways, so I'll catch up with you later."  
  
"Huh? But you said you'd train me all afternoon."  
  
He was already walking away. "Well, yeah, sorry, something came up. I think the others are having a meeting, though. Maybe you can go check that out?"  
  
Sighing, Hana brushed the dust off her knees and staggered towards the clubroom. She felt better as time went on, but that feeling of annoyance still remained.  
  
She took deep breaths as she entered the building, deeper as she approached the clubroom. Jon said it would be fine for her to go, but she was still nervous to confront Shane or Satch or anyone again.  
  
But, as she stood at the door, cracked slightly open, she heard a voice that made her stop. "S-so, are you doing anything for the Flower Festival?"  
  
No one else she knew had an accent like that. It had to be Shane. And he was talking to someone. The last thing she wanted to do was interrupt him and give him another reason to resent her- or rather, an actual reason to resent her, no matter how small, so she decided to hang back until it seemed appropriate to come in.  
  
"Well, no, not really," someone answered. It sounded like… Jirard, right? "I was just gonna put some flowers on the memorial, you know? Maybe light a few candles."  
  
Memorial? What was he talking about? The Flower Festival was just some normal town event, it wasn't some sort of commemoration of the dead, right? She'd have to ask Mai to be sure, but that seemed a tad unusual.  
  
At least, it seemed Shane also found this at least a bit unusual, as he started to make some sort of confused noise before coming to a sudden stop. "Oh, right. I forgot, that was at the Festival, wasn't it?"  
  
He stressed the word that, like he was referring to something specific and obvious. The kind of thing that made her feel nervous and stupid for not knowing.  
  
"Yeah, two years ago, almost exactly," Jirard remarked. "Kinda hard to believe it's been that long, to be honest."  
  
"I guess you don't really wanna go, then," Shane quickly huffed. Why did he sound almost… offended? No, upset, maybe?  
  
It seemed Jirard noted this as well, as he quickly changed his tone, turning from melancholy to more upbeat on a dime. "Oh! Did you want to?"  
  
She could practically hear Shane shrugging. "Nah. Not really."  
  
A new voice piped up. "You've never been, have you?"  
  
Was that PBG? Hana peeked through the door, to find Shane, head in hands and elbows on a pillow, Jirard sitting across from him, idly reading a brightly colored magazine, and… yep, she was right. PBG was the only other one in there, sitting on a table, thankfully facing away from her.  
  
"Why would I have?", Shane countered, his eyes fixed rather pointedly downwards.  
  
PBG shrugged in a way that indicated he was more confused than sorry or annoyed. "Sorry, man, just asking."  
  
Suddenly, Jirard looked up from the magazine. "You know," he started, leaning across the table in an attempt to make eye contact with Shane- something he was thoroughly denied. "Now that I'm thinking about, maybe we should go!"  
  
Jumping a bit, Shane sank a bit lower into the pillow. "Wh-what?", he stuttered.  
  
"They'd want us to enjoy ourselves, right? So why don't we go together! It'd be fun! Besides," he tapped Shane on the shoulder. He finally looked up, and Hana noted that he looked pretty much completely exhausted. His eyes had dark circles and bags that made her desperately want to shove his head into that pillow and tell him to sleep.  
  
But, Shane just rolled his eyes. "Besides what?"  
  
"It'd be good for you to get out!" Jirard's voice took on an almost singsong tone. Shane looked away and huffed.  
  
"Yeah, the three of us can go!", PBG added enthusiastically.  
  
Shane groaned again. "I thought you were holding out for someone."  
  
Despite being unable to see his face, Hana was sure PBG had instantaneously turned beet red. "What? O-of course not!"  
  
"Oh, right," said Jirard, looking over at PBG. "Jeff and Luke invited you, didn't they?"  
  
"Well, I don't know," PBG said with a shrug. "I mean, they offered, but Ian's gonna be with them too, so I wasn't really planning on taking them up on it."  
  
Like an afterthought, he added "does anyone else get the feeling he really hates us? Or is it just me?"  
  
"It's just you," Shane assured him flatly.  
  
PBG let out an annoyed growl, but Jirard just frowned and looked between the two. "Oh, come on, guys! Let's enjoy ourselves!"  
  
"Are you really sure you're okay with this?", Shane asked again, finally looking back at Jirard.  
  
Jirard nodded. "Of course! I'm sure nothing bad will happen this time!" There it was again, the feeling that something awful must have happened at a previous Flower Festival. It only intensified as Jirard went on.  
  
"And besides, that was two years ago! It's about time to make some new memories there, some happy ones."  
  
"Sounds like a plan!", PBG exclaimed, his closed fist flying into the air.  
  
Hana found a little chuckle rising out of her throat without thinking. PBG seemed so… lively, for want of a better word. In a strangely familiar way too.  
  
Any further thought on that, though, was halted as Shane's eyes flickered over to the door. She was sure they made eye contact for a brief moment, his eyes narrowing as they did so.  
  
"What are you looking at?", Jirard questioned, and Hana's heart stopped.  
  
Shane yawned and looked away. Hana darted from the door, down the hall a bit, only barely catching Shane's reply. "Oh, nothing. Just thought I saw something at the door."

* * *

Somehow, as she usually did, Hana ended back at her dorm, forgetting all about training and meetings. And, as she saw Mai, laying on the floor in a small pile of pillows and blankets, she was stricken with an idea.  
  
"Hey, how'd it go?", Mai quickly questioned, but Hana shook her head.  
  
"It was fine, but, um," Hana started, entirely uncertain of how to best introduce the question. "Jirard and Shane and PBG were talking about something that happened two years ago at the Flower Festival. What- do you know what that was?"  
  
Mai instantly sat up, her eyes shooting open. "The Incident, you mean?"  
  
That didn't sound like a name anything good could have. But, something about that made her want to know more. "So you do know?"  
  
"Nah," Mai admitted with a shrug. "I don't know what it was, or what happened, just rumors. Like, they say these two second years died horrifically, or there was some sort of crazy attack? I've heard the Yakuza might have been involved, but like, I'm pretty sure Mimi just made that up, that sounds fake and stupid."  
  
Hana, despite knowing absolutely nothing of this, was almost one hundred percent certain it was not the Yakuza. "Alright, but, Jirard sounded like he knew someone, or some people who died there."  
  
"Yeah, I bet he would have known them," Mai agreed, giving a nod. "He seems to have a lot of friends."  
  
Something in Hana felt like it wasn't just a case of Jirard knowing everyone, but that didn't surprise her much to hear. "Alright, but, um, is that all you know?"  
  
After a second, Mai sighed and nodded. "I don't even remember their names, to be honest, just that they never came back to school after the festival. Maybe ask the Science Club? They're all about conspiracy theories like that."  
  
The Science Club didn't sound like the type to really know a whole lot about anything… Magical Girl related. "Would Jon know? Or Paul?"  
  
"Why do you ask- oh," Mai's face lit up. "Oh! You think it's a Magic Thing?"  
  
"Maybe?", Hana admitted. "I mean, that's kind of what it sounded like, and PBG and Shane both seemed to know what Jirard meant."  
  
A thoughtful nod. "Well, yeah then, ask them! Ask Jared too, I bet he knows loads of stuff," Mai added with a giggle.  
  
Jon had said he had practice for a play, right? So, that meant he'd be in the auditorium? "I- I'll be back soon!", Hana assured Mai. "Just, um, where's the auditorium again?"  
  
Another giggle. "Here. I'll come with you. I wanna hear this too."  
  
Mai pouted when they arrived at the auditorium and she spotted Jon, chatting with some lanky, tired looking boy. "Aw, not Jared?"  
  
"I was going to try him after Jon," Hana muttered.  
  
Hana heard an odd spattering of footsteps behind her. She turned to see Mai half hiding behind a pole, motioning for her to go ahead.  
  
An odd spurt of nerves overtook her. What was she supposed to say? Just "hey, Jon, did something terrible and magic happen at the flower festival", or what? But, she gulped that back and walked up to him.  
  
"-and if you don't step it up, we'll have to cast someone else as Mer- oh!" Jon suddenly looked over at her, or at least, finally looked up by the time she was like half a meter away. "Uh…" He glanced over at the boy he was talking to and waved his hands, as if to brush him away. "Take five, I need to take this."  
  
The boy shuffled awkwardly away, and Jon turned to face Hana properly. His face quickly assumed a serious expression. "Look, I'm busy right now, so if this isn't important…"  
  
"He'll be pretty pissed off," Jacques finished.  
  
"Yes, that," Jon agreed.  
  
Those nerves started to prick up the back of Hana's neck once more. "Um, I-"  
  
"Yes? You what?"  
  
Trying to stutter it out, Hana came up with a few loosely connected fragments of the intended message. "Er, um, something… I want… um… the Flower Festival…"  
  
At the mention of the words "Flower Festival", Jon's eyebrows shot up, and he suddenly was staring at her like she was crazy. God, this had been a mistake. She should have asked Jared.  
  
"The Flower Festival?", Jon repeated. "The… Flower Festival…"  
  
God, whatever had happened there must have been bad, Hana thought. Jon seemed so confused, his face was getting all red, had she made him mad?  
  
"Uh… yeah, sure!", Jon suddenly agreed with a nod. "Sounds like fun. We can meet in front of Primrose around sundown, maybe?"  
  
Wait, what? What was Jon saying? Before Hana could even ask him, he'd gone back to talk to some guy painting a prop sword, so she was just left staring, wondering what had just happened.  
  
And then she faintly heard Jacques congratulating Jon: "your skills with the ladies are improving," or something like that.  
  
Slowly, she realized what had happened: she'd accidentally asked Jon out. To the Flower Festival.  
  
Someone patted her shoulder, causing her to jump. Not a ghost hand or anything. Just Mai, who was grinning like a maniac.  
  
"Nice job, Hana," Mai lauded with a chuckle.  
  
Hana just groaned. "You were right, I should have asked Jared."  
  
"No, no, this works fine," Mai assured her. "I mean, you can probably ask him about it on the date, right?"  
  
Date. The word sent a shiver down her spine.


	7. The Festival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Much to her dismay, Hana goes to the Flower Festival with Jon and Jacques. At least she can try to figure out what “The Incident” was, right?

Hana bit her lip, waiting outside of Primrose House, just as Jon had suggested. Mai had wanted to do her hair in a different style for the night, but Hana had declined her offer, wearing her usual bow. She felt way too overdressed already, what with wearing the yukata her father said came from her mom when they were teenagers. She had almost refused to wear it; this wasn't even a date! All it was was a misunderstanding on Jon's end. But, she wouldn't get a chance to wear it again, she reasoned.

 

Soon enough, Jon entered her field of vision, walking towards Hana with a feeling of calm around him. He grinned at her, waving, "Hey, Hana!" He called, before finally coming to a stop in front of her. He wore what she could only assume were his casual clothes, Jacques perched on his shoulder, as per the usual. "Sorry I took so long, Jacques was being stubborn."

 

The bird puffed up indignantly, nipping at the air right by Jon's ear in some sort of attempt at intimidation. "No. You took so long because you were finishing changes to your play's script." He deadpanned.

 

Jon went red, in anger or humiliation, Hana didn't know. He shot Jacques a glare- as well as he could, at least, "Shut up, you sack of feathers!"

 

"Fight me. I still have more power than you do."

 

"Why you little…"

 

Hana rolled her eyes, "Jon?" She cut in, reaching a hand out to tap on his free shoulder. "We should get going, right?"

 

"Oh, yeah." Jon coughed, straightening his shirt out, "Let's go. I don't want to ruin your evening."

 

He grabbed her wrist, leading her in the direction of the lights and stands of the Festival. She could see the fuzziness of the lights, the glare on her glasses, and it already felt homey. Hana was sure Jon and Jacques were still quietly bickering, so she diverted her attention to what was around her.

 

"Jon, Hana! Wait up!" Called a voice from behind them, making both of them turn their heads. It was PBG, who was jogging towards them, followed closely by Shane and Jirard. PBG smiled at them, skidding to a stop, "Heh, hi." He suddenly seemed nervous, waving awkwardly.

 

Jon, however, beamed, "Hey, Peebs." Then, he looked at the two behind PBG, "And Shane, and Jirard. So, you three going to the Festival together? Couldn't snag dates, huh?"

 

Shane crossed his arms in front of his chest, rolling his eyes in irritation. Meanwhile Jirard just laughed, "Nope! Though, it might be for the best.” He grinned in an almost forced way, gently rustling a small bouquet of what Hana knew were zinnias, "I wouldn't want to dampen the mood of a date with these…"

 

Again, Hana felt a chill run down her spine. What had happened at the Festival? Now she needed to know more than ever.

 

"Anyways," Jirard continued in a chirpy tone, "Want to walk to the Festival together? Since we're going the same way and all."

 

Shane looked like he desperately wanted to say no, and PBG seemed a little...apprehensive - she wasn't quite sure what his expression was - but Jon shrugged, "Alright, I don't see a problem in that."

 

Throughout the remaining walk towards the Festival, it seemed that Jon and Jirard didn't quite notice the tense atmosphere around them. Shane was making a point of not looking towards Hana for anything, and PBG looked at her occasionally, she could see him from the corner of her vision, before his eyes darted away again to stare at the ground

 

When they were right at the edge of the festival, Jirard cut off his idle chit-chat with Jon, "Well, we should get going. I wanted to go through the whole Festival and maybe hit the bonfire, so I need all the time I can get, and Shane and PBG said they'd stick with me." Shane and PBG nodded in confirmation.

 

"Well, alright, go do your Completing thing." Jon smirked, "Also, say hi to those two for me." He stressed the those two part, like he couldn't say the names. Hana felt like they weren't meant to be said, for whatever reason.

 

Jirard nodded, "I'll do that!" He started to walk off, sending a wave to Hana and Jon, "Bye, you two. See you later!"

 

"Yeah, buh-bye!" PBG echoed, his sentiment followed by a small nod from Shane, as he started to run off in front of Jirard. Shane scoffed, running after him, leaving Jirard alone in their wake. He had to jog to avoid any possible damage to his flowers. Hana couldn't help but to chuckle a tiny bit at the suddenness of it all.

 

"Um…" Jon mumbled, catching Hana's attention again, "So, what do you want to do first? Maybe to go get something to eat? I think there's a good sweets stand here. Or there was one last year. They made really good dango!"

 

Hana smiled, nodding, "That sounds nice. I haven't had dango in a while..." She remembered enjoying it, the few times she had managed to get some, so she was eager to have a taste of it again.

 

"Alright," A grin crossed Jon's face, and he started to lead Hana deeper into the Festival. A few students bustled around, laughing and goofing around, as well as other people - from little kids to old people - enjoyed themselves as well. Hana smiled at the liveliness of the Festival; the chime of small trinkets knocking against each other and the smell of fresh baked goods wafting from a few stands. It was nice, something she could get herself looking forward to, despite the intentional uncertainty in her mind about it.

 

Jon stopped in front of a stand, letting a small "yes" of success pass his lips as he walked up to the counter. "Can I have two dango, please?" He requested, already looking around for money as the person behind the counter grabbed the treats. But, even after a minute of searching, he didn't pull anything out, "Oh jeeze," He mumbled under his breath, looking up again with a sheepish smile, "I forgot my wallet, um, let me go get it…"

 

He stepped away from the stand, "Sorry Hana, I'm going to have to go back to the dorms." He apologized, "I thought I brought it, but I thought wrong apparently; I've just been really absent minded lately. Um, you can go find a seat somewhere, I'll find you again and bring you your dango."

 

"Alright." Hana sighed. She wasn't really disappointed, she wasn't in any kind of hurry, but sigh still left her lungs. "Don't worry too much about it, Jon, I don't mind waiting."

 

Jon nodded in understanding, "Alright. I'm still sorry, though; this was supposed to be a good evening but," He shrugged, chuckling half-heartedly, "Anyways, I'll be right back. Just find a seat!"

 

Hana watched as he ran off, almost bowling over a young couple in his haste. She smiled to herself, starting to mindlessly wander. Her feet brought her to what must've been the center of the festival; a few wooden benches making a ring around some sort of design made of different colored bricks on the ground. And, in the center of it all, was a statue, of a woman covered in flower designs and a man standing beside her. It seemed, as old as the statue was, both figures were full of life.

 

And at the foot of this statue was a few lit candles and photos of some people Hana didn’t recognize. Two boys, one with black hair and glasses, giving a nervous smile to the camera, and another with lighter hair and a beard like Jirard’s, grinning warmly.

 

Her blood ran cold as she realized what it was, that those two boys must have been long gone. And, as her eyes scanned over the flowers, she realized something else: this was what Jirard had been talking about, the “memorial”. That alone was clear as day, given his zinnias had been neatly arranged among them.  

 

She wished she could ask someone for their names, or at very least find some flowers to put on the memorial herself. Even if she didn’t know them, some of her friends (could she call them that yet?) had, right?

 

As she bent down to get a better look, she heard someone approaching her. Please be Jon, she prayed, but no, it was quite clearly not Jon. Jon didn’t ever look so sour, wasn’t wearing a hoodie, and most certainly didn’t have hair that light.

 

Still, the boy looked familiar, and she tried to place the name.

 

“You- you’re Ian, right?”

 

He nodded, and crouched down beside her.

 

“Um, weird question, but do you know who these people are?”, she asked, gesturing to the photos and candles.

 

Silence- so silent she was certain he hadn’t heard her- but finally broken by a sharp exhale. “I don’t remember their names, sorry,” he admitted, and she noticed he had a bit of an odd accent. Osakan, maybe?

 

“O-okay, um, thanks anyways…”, she muttered.

 

But he didn’t leave. He kept crouching next to her, kept talking. “Do you know the story behind this statue?”

 

“Huh?” She tried to remember, and yeah, she could sort of remember someone saying something about it. “Well, one of my friends said it was a flower spirit.”

 

Ian shook his head. “No, I mean the real meaning.”

 

“Real… meaning?”, Hana repeated. “No?”

 

Taking a deep breath, Ian launched into what sounded like a passage from a book more than a thing a person would actually say in conversation. “The spirit was the matriarch of a group of Kitsunes, imbued with great magic. The human who assisted her she granted magic. It’s said he was the first human to be blessed with magic, and many more after him had the powers within them awoken by the Kitsunes.”

 

All she could really say was “oh”. It was a cool story, but she was just lost, more than anything.  “But, why are you telling me this?”, she asked, hoping it would cover from “we’ve never talked before so why now” to “what is this supposed to mean” just fine.

 

He just shrugged. “It’s interesting.”

 

“Well yeah, it is, but, I mean,” No, she told herself, saying it was confusing for him to be talking to her was rude. He was probably just trying to make friends, and she of all people knew what that felt like. “Um, it’s just some old myth?” Yeah, that sounded better, that was a thing that could lead to conversation!

 

Or maybe not, because Ian just gave a strange chuckle. “You haven’t been here long, right?”

 

“No, I just started going to Asagao this year.” He knew that, why did she feel like she had to add that? Why? Well, despite how he seemed to be looking at her oddly still, she could salvage this, right? She’d talked to Shane fine, right? “Um… why do you ask?”

 

“Higanbana is a strange place,” Ian stated simply.  “It, and Asagao itself seems to attract all sorts of… ‘weird’ types.”

 

“Yeah, it does seem that way, doesn’t it?” She found herself laughing to think of it. Not just Jon and the rest of Normal Boots, but the girl Mai swore up and down was a robot next door- a point she was prone to agree on, and the guy she’d seen eating spaghetti with a spoon in the cafeteria too. Wait, that’d been Ian, hadn’t it?

 

Well, yeah, he was definitely one of the weird ones too. He seemed to be taking this whole thing… strangely seriously. “It doesn’t just seem that way. Living legends, complete enigmas, sole survivors, nobodies turned heroes overnight- they’re all right here.”

 

Hana blinked. “What?”

 

“You seriously have no idea what I’m talking about?”, Ian dryly questioned.

 

“Should I?”

 

Ian looked as if he was going to say something more, probably something rather biting, but a voice calling out drew his attention instead. “Hey, hurry up, okay?”

 

With a sigh, he stood up and turned towards the voice. If Hana strained her neck, she could see two guys waving at him. “Well, some people are waiting on me,” Ian explained, the clear beginning of a farewell. “So think you could tell me where the bakery’s stall is?”

 

Or not a farewell. “No?” She was trying to remember, couldn’t recall a bakery stall or anything.

 

He just shook his head and walked away. “Never mind, I’ll find it.” Almost as an afterthought, he turned around and waved at her before rushing towards those friends of his. “See you later, Hana.”

 

As he left, a thought slowly came to Hana’s mind. Was he talking about Magical Girl stuff? Was he one too? Or, no, the Normal Boots club was the only Magical Girl group in the school, right? Or had she actually heard that?

 

Either way, Jon was coming back, holding two sticks of dango and grinning.

 

“So, Hana, what do you want to go see now?”, her “date” asked as he handed her one of the dangos.

 

She tried to think as she took a bite of the sweet. It wasn’t exactly good, a little too chewy, but it was festival food, what did she expect? “I don’t know, really. Um, I heard about a bakery stand, do you know where that is?”

 

His face quickly fell into a scowl. “Ugh, yes. It’s shit, don’t go there.”

 

“Oh…” She wondered if maybe she should tell Ian that, but he was already long lost to the crowd.

 

Her eyes floated to the sky as she took another bite of the dango. The stars looked like embers in the twilight, almost. It was a gorgeous night, if nothing else.

 

Embers… Jirard had mentioned something about a bonfire, right? That sounded like fun.

 

“Um, m-maybe we should go to the bonfire?”, Hana suggested.

 

Jon just shrugged. “Yeah, I guess that works.”

 

He began to shuffle through the crowd, gesturing for her to follow. Letting out a sigh, she shuffled along behind him, trying to focus only on him, not on the walls of people around. Part of her wanted to grab his hand so she wouldn’t lose him.

 

But, before the end of the crowd of people parted, Jon suddenly made a sharp turn away from the slight glow of flames. Hana had no clue why until they stopped and she found herself nearly running into Nick, who jumped back a bit.

 

“Ah, h-hello!”, she hastily greeted. Almost without thinking, she looked around for the other two,a nd sure enough, Josh and Paul were right there as well.

 

“Oh, Hana!”, Paul greeted. He looked a bit tired, but was smiling all the same. “How’s it going?”

 

It wasn’t like she could say “I don’t know, I’m on a ‘date’ with a guy I never asked out and Ian kinda creeped me out also who died and why is there a memorial to them at that weird statue?”, as much as she wanted to. So instead, she just gave a more general “well, you know…”

 

“Yeah, that’s about how it always goes here,” Josh sighed. “Honestly, between that trainwreck a few years ago and us spilling coffee all over that first year last time, I don’t think we’ve ever actually been to one that wasn’t terrible.”

 

There it was again, the Flower Festival a few years ago. So those three had been there too?

 

“Well, we were gonna meet up with Satch, so we’ve sorta gotta run, alright?” Nick sounded a bit uneasy still, and Hana got the feeling that, as nice as he seemed, he still didn’t like her for some reason. Was it the same reason he’d voted against her? Or was she reading too far into things?

 

“Oh, see you guys later,” Jon called after the three as they hastily began their retreat.

 

After Hana could no longer see the trio, Jon gave a small laugh. “Weird, could have sworn Satch said he wasn’t coming. Anyways, the bonfire’s right over there.”

 

She was sure she heard the bird snickering. Because birds could snicker, that of all things shouldn’t have been surprising by that point.

 

Regardless of bird snickering, Jon grabbed her hand and pulled her through the crowd, to both her embarrassment and relief. And, in a rather short span of time, they reached the bonfire- an impressive sight, if not a bit nerve-wracking. And, after only a few seconds, Jon turned to her and gave a strange frown.

 

“What is it?”, she questioned.

 

He shook his head. “Um, Hana, there’s a little somethin’ I’ve gotta get off my chest. I’ve been thinking, and, well, I don’t know if this is going to work between us.”

 

As Jacques added a “Real smooth, Jon,” Hana was left reeling from what was just said.

 

“Wait, what?”, she questioned, because there was no way she’d heard that right at all.

 

Jon shook his head, a bit too dramatically. “It’s not you, it’s me. I just…”

 

“Wait, are you breaking up with me?” Hana felt a little bad interrupting, but honestly, she didn’t want to hear how that ended because how could someone she wasn’t dating break up with her?

 

“Yeah, sorry…” He trailed off, looking away from her, as the bird on his shoulder seemed to almost sigh, yet another thing she did not know birds could do.

 

“No, I mean…” She had to clarify her intent, she bit her lip as her heart started to pound. “S-since when were we dating?”

 

Jon cocked his head to the side and let out a questioning noise. “Didn’t you ask me out? To come here?”

 

“No!”, Hana quickly exclaimed. “I mean… um, tha-that wasn’t what I was trying to do, um, I was trying to ask you something else…”

 

As Jon just stared ahead, as if stricken numb by her words, Jacques piped up. “Do you not remember, she was stuttering.”

 

That seemed to put a bit of life back in him. “Was that not what you were trying to say?”, Jon slowly questioned.

 

She shook her head. “Not at all, actually.”

 

“Oh…” Jon cursed under his breath as his eyes darted around, from the flames to her hair to Jacques beside him. “Um, sorry, did this make you uncomfortable?”

 

“Not really.” Well, a little, maybe, but now wasn’t the time to say that. “I had a good time. I just, I never meant to ask you out, I’m not interested.”

 

A low whistle. “Well, that’s a relief,” Jon proclaimed. “I… had a good time too.”

 

As they stood there, in the crackles of the flame, an awkward silence began to settle. In an odd way, it was the most at ease she’d felt all night, only broken by Jacques’ sudden reminder of her original goal. “Hana wanted to ask you something else, idiot.”

 

“Oh, right!”, Jon exclaimed, turning back towards her. “What were you gonna ask me the other day if it wasn’t, er...” He motioned to their surroundings. “This?”

 

Hana took a deep breath, taking a minute to gather her exact thoughts. The desperate curiosity came back in a wave, bursting through her nerves into a clear and coherent question. “Well, I overheard Jirard and Shane and PBG talking about the Flower Festival two years ago, and I was wondering if you knew what happened there?”

 

His face went through a rollercoaster of emotions in a matter of seconds. Shock, confusion, more shock, guilt, sorrow, it was all right in front of her before he settled on just generally uncomfortable. “Uh…”

 

Even Jacques seemed stricken speechless. Hana wasn’t sure whether to back off and apologize or keep going, but she was really leaning towards the former.

 

“Well, it’s, um…”, Jon tried to stutter out. “You see, er, it’s kind of…”

 

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to!”, Hana quickly blurted out.

 

Jon gave a small huff, or maybe a sigh. “Good. I don’t want to.”

 

“Um, alright then.” Her voice became much smaller than she would have liked. She’d blown it. She knew she should have asked Jared.

 

Another moment of silence in the flickering flames, but this one was more uncomfortable than calming. She didn’t think she could take it another minute. “Do you wanna head back?”, she questioned suddenly, not even caring for the answer. She just wanted sound.

 

“Nah, the night’s still young, right?”, Jon countered with a shrug. “We should-”

 

His eyes widened suddenly and his voice cut out. Hana turned around to see what he was looking at. A faint figure, coming closer in the flickering flames. They seemed to be wearing a flowing cape and had rather, for want of a better word, poofy hair.

 

But, as she watched, it seemed the figure was joined by a few more. One was wearing a dress and an odd hat, another was unmistakably the guy she’d fought the other day.

 

“This is not good,” Jacques stated, too flatly for the urgency spreading across Jon’s face and her own chest. “I will alert the others.”

 

Jacques flew off- probably the first thing she’d actually seen him do that seemed bird-like. Well, aside from the fact his wings were shimmering bright green as he did so. That wasn’t particularly bird-like.

 

Jon let out a sigh and put a hand on her shoulder. “Hana, there’s like, a seventy percent chance we’re gonna end up in a fight. I don’t see Brian or Ross or Holly yet, but worst case scenario, we’ll be fighting six people at once. Jacques is getting the others, but, it might take a while for them to show up. Think you can handle this, at least for a minute?”

 

Hana swallowed back a bubble of fear. “Th-this is what we’ve b-b-been training for, r-right?”, she stuttered out. That’s to say, she did not think she could handle this, but she’d try anyways.


	8. Festival Fallout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hana engages in her first real battle against baddies with Normal Boots! That is to say, she attempts to survive a chaotic mess caused in part by Normal Boots.

The guy Hana remembered fighting before gave a strange, mocking frown as he and his team approached them. “Man, Dan…”, he muttered, in some strange mock-melancholy.  
  
“What’s wrong, Arin?”, questioned the guy in the crazy blue jumpsuit, apparently Dan.   
  
“Well, I just wanna beat up some good old fashioned Magical Girls,” Arin explained.   
  
Dan gave something of a mocking grin to his partner. “Well, why are you so bummed about it?”   
  
“Because, gee whiz, Dan, we don’t have anyone to fight right now!”, exclaimed Arin, far too theatrically. Jon just rolled his eyes, while Hana prayed maybe they’d actually leave them alone.   
  
“Um, I think you do!,” Dan corrected. “What about those two?”   
  
“Stop joking, Dan!” Arin gave an odd sort of smirk as he looked directly at Jon, who was frowning more than Hana had ever seen him frown. “Aren’t those little kids?”   
  
His only response was a rather deadpan “yes” from Dan.   
  
There was an awkward gap of silence, in which the girl in the weird hat sighed.   
  
“Look, I know you two have been rehearsing this, but can we maybe get a move on?”, she suggested. “Before they call for help or something.”   
  
Jon didn’t say a word, but a green flash of light pierced the air. His wings were back, but he seemed significantly more dour than when he usually transformed.   
  
Well, that was understandable. He’d said Arin had once been his teammate, right?   
  
“Yeah, Suzy’s right, cut the crap,” Jon huffed. “If you’re gonna fight us, do it now.”   
  
Dan gave a wide grin and seemingly pulled a microphone stand out of thin air. “Well, you’re still no fun.”   
  
The girl, Suzy probably, gave a small chuckle as scissors appeared in her hands. “Sorry about this, but a job’s a job, and we were told to stir up a bit of…fun at the Flower Festival.”

_Fun?_

Hana had no time to ponder on what Suzy meant, before Dan sang an extended note at his mic stand. A blue, swirling energy started to travel down, dripping onto the ground in a way that reminded Hana instantly of water. As soon as it was big enough, it started morphing, the form of what looked like a unicorn rising up.

The beast snorted and tossed its head as Dan went quiet, stomping a hoof on the ground. Arin smirked, summoning his own weapon, a sudden flux of electricity crackling in the air, “Trust me, this time won’t be so easy. We have others coming, y’know.”

Hana closed her eyes, the warmth of transformation absorbing her and quickly leaving. She flared out her fans and bit her lip, staring at the three. It was a standstill, someone waiting for another to make the first move. Hana didn’t even dare to breathe too deeply.

Suzy slowly raised her scissors, eyes starting to radiate a soft light, and the world around them changed. It was almost like something you would expect from a dream that was quickly turning into a nightmare, tumbling and shifting in a disorienting way.

It seemed that set everything off. Jon took flight, Dan threw out a hand to command his unicorn to charge forward, Arin collected small balls of electricity between his fingers and tossed them into the air, where they exploded like smoke balls.

Hana barely felt herself send out a flurry of petals, overwhelmed by the new sights and sounds and the adrenaline. Through everything, she was sure that she heard a whinny of pain, and assumed that she had hit the unicorn with the unaimed attack. That was good. If she could keep this up…

A scream ripped through her throat, feeling something smash into her side. She turned around, sending another attack out, hopefully hurting her attacker. But...No one was there…Just smoke.

The clatter of hooves caught her attention, and she slashed at the glowing beast approaching her too fast for a proper attack. To her surprise, her fans seemed to do the work on their own, seeming to cut through the unicorn’s neck. It stumbled a few steps to the side, poofing into a cloud of smoke before it could tumble to the ground. She heard Dan give a yell of surprise.

There was no time to celebrate, however, as one of Jon’s daggers shot past her ear and imbedded itself into the dirt, reminding her of the fight. She ran towards Suzy, more petals exploding in front of her, aiming for the scissors that were still pointed upwards. Hopefully, if she knocked them away or something, the illusion would fall away…

Suzy held strong, visibly gritting her teeth, but the scissors tumbled down as an ear-shattering roar sounded out. The warped scenery fell away, leaving them once again in the field. At once, both her and Suzy looked towards where the sound had come from, more distracted from their mostly-one sided fight more than anyone else.

“Finally. I never thought you’d get here!” Jon huffed, loud voice coming down clearly from his place in the air, in the direction of a large monster; it looked like a manticore, from what Hana remembered of their descriptions.

“Sorry!” A very familiar person yelped, standing by the creature, “I couldn’t find you guys…I’m here now though.” Jirard flashed a warm smile, before looking at Dan, “We’re equal in number now, at the very least.”

Dan scowled, summoning a larger monster of his own - a large, blue lion-looking thing. “Not for long. Brian is already here, and the others should be here any second!”

_Brian…?_

Hana’s mind wandered to the dull pain in her side and the smoke left behind to face her attack. That seemed like the most reasonable explanation, even if she couldn’t quite wrap her head around it.

Almost as if her thoughts summoned it, another cloud of smoke appeared, right in Hana’s peripheral vision. There was someone standing there, a dozen ninja stars held between his fingers. Nothing on him was visible, except for his glare, and the rest was hidden away by a ninja outfit. He turned his head at Hana, aiming his hand to toss one of his stars at her.

She blocked with a cloud of petals, listening and watching as the stars tore small holes into her barrier. Jirard seemed to be summoning another beast- some sort of large cat, maybe?- as she could hear some encouraging cries from what sounded like a rather great distance away.

“Come on, Jirard! You can do it!” It sounded like PBG, but Hana couldn’t see him to be sure.

And regardless, she didn’t need to be worrying about him right now. The stars were still tearing into the petals- a few into her side, now, and they hurt slightly less than she expected things so sharp would, but still enough to make her let out a few cries of pain when they brushed past her or stuck in her side. Did she need to take them out, or was it safer to leave them in? Dammit, why hadn’t Jon gone over this?

“Hana, on your left!”, someone directed, and she ducked out of the way just as a pair of scissors flew by her head. She looked to see Suzy smiling just as Jon dive-bombed at her and the grin fell away as she let out a small shout of shock.

A kunai grazed her cheek. She looked around, unable to see where exactly it’d come from, and took a deep breath as the another wall of petals formed in front of her. Odd, they’d been only amaryllises before, but now she spotted some sweet peas and zinnias mixed in with them.

...that was the last thing she needed to be thinking about right now. Four much stronger Magical Girls were trying to murder her and her friends, they were outnumbered. Probably out planned as well, but they were doing well. She just needed to help, she needed to fight, she needed to be brave.

So, she took a deep breath and focused all her energy towards Dan, who seemed to have engaged in some sort of Summons Battle with Jirard. He was focused on him, so it wouldn’t be hard to hit him off guard. Light swirled around her fingertips, she dashed forward, trying to thrust it forward, and-

“Fear not, friends! I’m here now!”, a voice exclaimed as a figure in a grey yukata dashed between her and her target. Surprise made the blast drop out of her hands and onto the ground, where it just scattered into a small shockwave.

Who even was that? Jared? Her eyes flickered towards said figure, whose face she couldn’t see but whose sparkles were clear as day. Yep, definitely Jared.

She almost screamed in frustration, but settled for biting her tongue.

Maybe try again? No, she barely even remembered how she’d done that in the first place, she didn’t think she could replicate it. Besides, her target had turned at Jared’s excited call and he looked as thoroughly unamused as she felt.

“Jared, um, you didn’t happen to see Continue on the way here, did you?”, Jon questioned loudly as he threw a few more knives at Arin.

He let out an indignant huff. “What, am I not enough?”

“We aren’t saying that!”, Jirard assured him as he sent the manticore after Dan’s unicorn again. “Jared, we’re glad you’re here to fight with us!”

A small chuckle. Hana looked over to see Jared smiling strangely. “I’m glad to hear that,” he said in his normal haughty manner. “But, to answer Jon’s question, I didn’t see them, but Jacques was going to look for them.”

“Alright, we can work with that,” Jon muttered. “Hold them off a minute. Jared, you stick by Hana.”

“Why of course,” Jared agreed. He glanced at Hana’s petal barrier. Some nadeshiko flowers had appeared in its midsts, she noted.

And, as Hana observed Jared looking over the battlefield before throwing a handful of some energy- or was that just sparkles?- over at one of the enemies, she started to wonder exactly what his power was. Jon had his bird wings and knives, Jirard summoned stuff, and Jared? Well, he sparkled, that was for sure. And he seemed to be holding some sort of baton, or maybe just the disembodied hilt of a katana, but that was about it. The sparkle blasts didn’t seem to phase anyone they hit much, and his weapon wasn’t doing a thing.

At very least, Hana kind of felt more useful in comparison. She finally let the shield go and went after Arin herself, casting a spray of light that left glowing spots on the ground around him. He didn’t notice yet, so maybe, just maybe if he stayed where he was… no, she needed to make him stay where he was.

Maybe her petals? Yeah, she sent a wave on either side of him, praying it would keep him in place. The spots were starting to sprout vines, just like when she’d been training with Jon, and her target just looked around the petals and tried to shoot a bolt through them. This could work, this could work!

“Hey, sorry we’re late!”, an unfamiliar voice called out, and Hana tried not to look, just kept concentrating. If the vines sprouted, maybe she could hold Arin back for a minute, and she’d be helpful!

But, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something that all but forced her head to turn. Two people were walking towards the scene of the fight, but she couldn’t look away from the girl. Well, the girl’s hair, really, because she’d never seen anything like it.

Well, other than in the mirror, of course; her hair was a light pink color that made her think she couldn’t be seeing right. Hana wanted to ask, was it dyed, or was that lady like her?

As she faced a serious mental crisis, Jon just shook his head. “Oh, for the love of… PBG, can you go check on Jacques?”, he commanded.

“Um, but they’re right there!”, PBG blurted out.

Jon let out a relieved sigh and rushed over to greet the returning Jacques, along with Paul, Nick, and Josh. But Hana could only still stare- well, at least until a cry of shock sounded through the air. Her head whipped around to see Arin being knocked into the air by one of the vines she’d planted.

Everyone just seemed to watch as he tumbled to the ground, giving a small “oof” as he fell. Hana almost felt bad- that’d looked painful, but any guilt fell away as Jirard let out a congratulatory “Alright, Hana!”

“Hana?” The guy with the pink haired girl looked confused before making eye contact. Hana felt a small shiver run down her back. “Oh, great, the new girl’s a threat,” he muttered, reaching his hand upwards. Brass knuckles formed around his hand, and all Hana could think was that it looked like it’d be extremely unpleasant to be hit by those.

She had to keep being brave, though. Hana bit her tongue and dashed ahead, sending another wave of petals towards him. It didn’t do much- of course it didn’t do much, they were flower petals- but it seemed to catch his attention long enough to slow him down.

Jirard looked her way and ran over. A few more large cats he’d summoned followed, charging towards the brass knuckles guy and the pink haired lady.

And then, before she could react, the pink haired lady pulled out some sort of blaster and sent what seemed to be a massive spark of energy towards Jirard, who let out a panicked cry. He didn’t have time to dodge, frozen with shock.

Another yell came from where PBG was, but not one of encouragement; it was laced with panic.

She heard someone rush by her, but couldn’t process who it was until he had shoved Jirard out of the way, whipping out a thin notebook and flipping through the pages. It was Shane, looking completely nonplussed as the notebook’s pages started to glow an eerie pink-purple light.

Everything seemed to freeze as something burst from the pages, dragging itself from the pages with a weird, scratchy roar. It stretched out, twitching in a weird way before quickly swiping at the energy burst with a claw. The energy shredded into a few ribbons of light, disappearing quickly.

The monster looked around, before focusing on the pink haired lady. It started to slink towards her, moving like a lizard; it looked much bigger than it was, only adding to its creepiness factor.

“Holly!” The guy shrieked, grabbing the girl by the hand and starting to run, trying to get her far away from the monster. It seemed focused completely on her, giving chase as they ran; it didn’t seem to notice anything else.

Arin produced more balls of electricity, tossing them towards the monster in an attempt to distract it. It seemed to work, albeit for a second; Shane’s monster swiped at Arin, luckily missing him as electricity hit it in the eyes. Hana was not willing to see someone turned into something resembling a paper that had gone through the shredder.

“We can’t do this, Arin!” Dan yelped, his own creatures poofing away, “We should just leave while we can.” Suzy nodded at Dan’s side, looking a bit frightened herself, while Brian just nodded.

Arin looked at the three, quickly sparing a second to look at the still slightly-stunned monster, before he nodded himself. He ran after his teammates, tossing one last comment towards the others, “Bye, Jon! See ya later!”

That sounded way too casual to Hana, but she could only guess it was supposed to be somewhat mocking.

Jirard seemed to be restraining himself from running towards Shane as soon as the other team disappeared, looking equal parts panicked and worried, “Shane, call this thing off! They’re gone. We’re all fine, okay? The fight’s over.”

There wasn’t a response. Shane looked like he was in a trance, eyes glassy and dull, almost shining the same color as the page had when his monster had been summoned. It was only for a second, before the color disappeared.

A low growl came from the monster, bringing Hana’s attention towards it. It seemed to be staring right at her.

It turned, starting to slink towards her; she seemed to be its only focus. Hana couldn’t move, frozen as she watched the monster raise a paw, claws looking way too sharp so close up. She couldn’t even scream as the paw descended on her, eyes squeezing shut, waiting for the inevitable to happen.

Instead of pain, she just felt a rush of air. Hana’s eyes fluttered open, mind reeling from the sudden appearance of the empty air in front of her.

She forced herself to look, staring at Shane. He was on his knees, shoulders slumped and sketchbook laying in front of him.

“Shane!”  
  
Jirard went barreling towards his collapsed friend, who was sitting cross legged with the closed sketchbook in his lap. Jon ran towards him as well, looking a bit less concerned and more just annoyed. “Are you okay?”, Jirard questioned, while Jon scoffed.   
  
“What the hell was that?”   
  
Hana was sure Shane glared at her for a split second before slowly pushing himself to his feet, brushing dust off his knees as he did so. “Magic,” that was the only answer he provided.   
  
“You don’t have magic,” Paul countered, approaching Shane while his two partners stayed back. “That sketchbook of yours, why didn’t you tell us it was enchanted?”   
  
Frowning, Shane pushed himself between Jirard and Paul and started to walk towards the bonfire. “It’s not,” he explained flatly.   
  
“Then what did you do?”, Jared questioned, rushing ahead to meet him. “Is there a demon sealed in that thing?”   
  
The fact that Jared said that as if it was a thing that was plausible scared Hana more than a bit. But whether it was plausible or not, Shane pushed him aside and kept walking without even giving him an answer.   
  
“Come on!”, Jon spat. “Even if that’s a magic notebook-”   
  
“Sketchbook,” Shane corrected.   
  
Jon was practically seething now, and Hana had to wonder how much of that was frustration at Shane and how much was left over from the fight itself. “Whatever! You still shouldn’t be able to control it!”   
  
“He didn’t control it!”, Paul corrected. “Or at least, he barely did!” To Shane, he added “you could have gotten Hana, or someone else, killed, you know!”   
  
A sigh, and Shane stopped in his tracks and turned to face them. In the light of the bonfire, the dark shadows under his eyes were highlighted, made him look otherworldly. “I won’t apologize,” he stated in a tone far too flat for his glare. “I helped you.”   
  
“You aren’t helping anyone by being reckless,” Jirard exclaimed. “You- you- you need to be careful! I can help, please, just-”   
  
Shane turned back around and continued to walk off. Jirard looked as if he wanted to say more, but stopped himself.

Instead, he just sighed, shaking his head. He looked at the others, smiling, “Well...tonight was exciting. But I think it’s time to call it a night.” Jirard waved, starting to walk off, “See you guys tomorrow!”

“Alright.” Jon nodded, anger cooling down, “I think we all deserve some rest, honestly…”

Everyone nodded, besides Hana. She looked back at the lights of Festival, biting her lip, “Um...I think I’m going to head back to the Festival for a while, maybe look around a bit to wind down from all of this.” Hana turned around, taking a few steps away, before looking over her shoulder.

Paul smiled at her, “That sounds like a good plan. Have fun, Hana.” He waved, and Hana did the same.

She walked off, letting her transformation fall away before she entered the Festival again.

Hana’s feet lead her towards the statue again, for whatever reason. Someone new was sitting down at it, staring up and almost seeming like he was talking to it. Hana frowned, taking a few more steps towards the statue and standing just a step behind the person, “Um...Hi?”

“O-Oh!” The person jumped, eyes wide, “Erm, um, hello.”

She looked at the statue, noting a few new flowers statues at its base. There was the flowers from before, but a new bundle had been added to their ranks - anemone and roses, to be exact. Hana looked at the new boy, who was slowly standing up and starting to brush off his pants. Before she had any time to stop herself, she blurted out a question, “Did you put those on there?”

“Um…” He looked like a deer caught in the headlights, coughing to clear his throat, “Yeah. I did…Any special reason for knowing?” He tilted his head.

“Oh, it’s nothing, they’re just lovely.” Awkwardly putting her hands in her pockets, she kicked at the ground, “Well...I’m Hana Mizuno. It’s nice to meet you...”

“Matthew Patrick. Or just Mat.” He smiled at her, “It’s nice to meet you too, Hana. I’m kinda surprised we haven’t met before - most people know each other at Asagao. Though, I do suppose it makes sense, with you being a transfer.”

“You know about that?” _Of course he knows about it - there’s bound to be rumors about the new, third year student with pink hair._

“Oh, yeah, sorry. That must’ve sounded a bit weird. I work as Miss Shizuka’s assistant most of the time, so I get information on who comes into and out of the school.”

Well...that made sense.

Hana nodded, covering her mouth with a hand when a yawn escaped her. Fatigue was starting to set in, finally. “Sorry about that...I should get going, though.” She smiled, bowing her head slightly, “It was wonderful meeting you, Mat. Hopefully we can talk again!”

“I’d...like that!” Mat grinned back, calling out one final thing as Hana started to walk away, “Have a great night, Hana. Stay safe!”

Hana didn’t know if she _could_ stay safe anymore. But, she was sure she could handle things just fine. Hopefully.


	9. Rescheduling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hana attempts to balance school and Magical Girl training better, but this gets increasingly more complicated the more she looks into it.

The next day in class, Hana found it impossible to think of anything but everything that had happened last night. It was just too much to take in, almost. That girl with pink hair- Holly, wasn’t it? She didn’t seem to have any powers out of the norm for a Magical Girl, but then again, neither did Hana. So was she like her? It would explain how Arin knew she was a Magical Girl just by her hair, but it could have just been dyed, right?

  
  
And then there was Shane. Shane, who Jon had said didn’t have powers. Shane, who nearly killed her with some monster made of scribbles and that terrible pinkish glow.

  
  
“Miss Mizuno, are you even paying attention?”

  
  
Mimi Santos snickered as Miss Shizuka slammed a rolled-up piece of paper down on Hana’s desk, snapping her out of her thoughts.

  
  
“Sorry!”, she exclaimed instinctively. “I was listening!”

  
  
Shizuka just huffed and turned away. “Your grades aren’t reflecting that,” she stated a bit too loudly. “Please, talk to me after class.”

  
  
Hana really kind of just wanted to cry, but Mai put a hand on her wrist, as if to reassure her. Anyone staring at her seemed to forget as Miss Shizuka kept explaining the myths of Skyworld- all stuff Hana had heard before, but she forced herself to pay attention as much as she could.

  
  
But, her mind couldn’t help but wander, because there were just so many places for it to wander. Back to Shane, to her heart pounding in her throat, to the memorial and the framed photos among the candles. And that boy, who was sitting a few seats ahead of her and most definitely passing notes to the guy in the hat- Ian, right? He’d thoroughly confused the heck out of her.

  
  
What was his deal, anyways? Did he know about magic stuff too? Did he have powers like theirs? But then, why wasn’t he with Normal Boots?

  
  
No, she had to pay attention. Shizuka was still talking about Skyworld and the Three Sacred Treasures and everything. Ugh, she knew this, they’d taught it in Junior High! Was the difference in curriculum just a Private School thing?

  
  
There she went again. Not paying attention. Well, at least the bell rang mercifully short afterwards and she almost followed Mai out before Shizuka’s glare reminded her that she was supposed to talk to her.

  
  
“Um, I’m really sorry about not paying attention,” Hana hastily apologized. “I just sorta got lost in thought.”

  
  
Oddly, her teacher gave a broad smile in response. “Oh, I know. Sorry about snapping, it’s just been a rough couple of days for me.”

  
  
Translation: someone had dumped her. Hana still couldn’t help but feel a bit bad, but mostly, she was just relieved she hadn’t been yelled at.

  
  
It seemed the conversation was far from over, though, as Shizuka’s grin faded as she pulled out a planner of some sort. “But, I’m a bit worried. You haven’t turned in any of your homework in a week, and you seem distracted. Is everything alright in your personal life?”

  
  
She had kept forgetting the homework, that was true, she wouldn’t deny that. Training with Jon was as mentally exhausting as it was physically, and by the time she was done, all she had the energy for was to curl up with Mister Bunny and play that Dumbidoom’s Revenge game she’d downloaded.

  
  
How would she say that without mentioning magic, though? “Um, I’ve been, er, helping the Normal Boots guys out with some things.” Technically not a lie. “And I’m really sorry, it’s just been hard to concentrate with everything going on.”

  
  
Her teacher gave an odd frown. “Well, I can’t say I don’t understand, men are often demanding, but you don’t owe them a thing, you know?”

  
  
“No, I’m helping because I want to!”, she hastily assured her.

  
  
“With what, exactly?”, Shizuka pressed.

  
  
Hana gulped. Okay, think, what would make sense? “Um, the-there’s this… um, t-tournament we’re competing in?”

  
  
Where did that even come from? Shizuka only looked more suspicious. “A tournament? For what, exactly?”

  
  
“Um…” Come on, what did they do other than magic? Art? No, there weren’t art tournaments. Debate? No, there was a debate team already.

  
  
But their name, their name, that was something from a video game, right? She kind of remembered playing that game with a friend when she was little, she remembered a Normal Boots item in it.

  
  
“Video game tournament,” she lied. “I’m um, helping them in the puzzle games.”

  
  
Shizuka nodded, seemed to buy it at least. “Ah, so training hard, are you?”

  
  
Giving a shaky nod, Hana tried to find something more to say, but couldn’t.

  
  
“Well, I hear Mister Macleod is rather good at those, so you’d better work hard.”

  
  
Something in the way she said that sounded… threatening. MacLeod, that name sounded familiar, but she didn’t think it was anyone on Normal Boots.

  
  
Didn’t hurt to ask, right? “MacLeod?”

  
  
“Ian, sorry, I guess he doesn’t introduce himself that way.”

  
  
Oh. It was starting to make sense. All that he’d said at the festival, Ian knew something about magic, at the very least. For all she knew, he could have powers like hers. So was Shizuka trying to hint that she was on to them? Or was that just common knowledge, that Ian was good at puzzle games? She’d have to ask Mai. Mai, who was probably wondering when she’d be done talking to Miss Shizuka.

  
  
Right, Miss Shizuka. “Um, anyways,” Hana questioned. “What can I do to make up on the work? I mean, I know I need to do it, but…”

  
  
Her teacher simply shrugged. “I was going to suggest a tutor, but your problem’s not exactly what I thought. But you still need to do the homework, yes.”

  
“A tutor?”, Hana repeated. But she knew the material, her problem was laziness more than difficulty.

  
  
“My teacher’s aid usually does it, helps other students if they’re behind or whatever,” Shizuka explained. “Heck, he’s been doing it since he was a first year. Impressive, that guy is.”

  
  
Teacher’s aid, wasn’t that what the other guy at the statue had said he was? Matthew-something, right? No, Mat, he said he usually just went by Mat.

  
  
He’d been at the memorial too, right? And it looked like he’d brought flowers. Maybe he’d be a bit more willing to talk about what happened there than Jon had been, maybe a bit less upset about it than Jirard.

  
  
Well, and she had said she wanted to talk to him again. “Um, I think a tutor might help, actually,” she suggested.

  
  
Shizuka raised an eyebrow. “Well, I can tell him, if you think that’d help. He’s usually doing them in the library on Tuesdays and Thursdays after class, would that work for you?”

  
  
Jon had play practice those days- okay, most days, so it probably wouldn’t interfere too much with training. They really needed to work out a better schedule, come to think of it.

  
  
“Um, yeah, it’d work,” she stated with a nod, and Miss Shizuka smiled.

  
  
“Wonderful! I’m sure he was getting a bit bored with just Miss Santos, so he’ll be glad to hear you’re interested!”

  
  
Hana just nodded, unsure of what more to say.

  
  
“Now, go along, Hana,” her teacher prompted. I’m sure the boys are waiting on you.”

  
  
“Really just Mai…”, she corrected under her breath, and Shizuka chuckled, like there was a joke Hana had missed somewhere along the way.

  
  
But, as she was already halfway out the door, Shizuka added something else. “Oh, and if you see Nurse McPasta, tell him that he should maybe help the students balance work a bit better?”

  
  
Was that code? Yes, definitely, what else could that mean? Did she know about Magical Girls, about Creeps, about her?

  
  
Creeps, right, maybe he would know about The Incident, or at least about what had happened this festival. Maybe she could go talk to him?

  
  
That would probably be best, she decided. He would, most likely, have the answers - unlike all the other failed attempts with everyone else.

 

* * *

 

As to be expected, Creeps was in the Nurse’s Office - did he ever even leave? - looking at the screen of his computer with a grin and a few quiet chuckles. Hana snuck up behind him, looking over his shoulder to sneak a peek at what he was laughing at.

 

“Are you watching...cat videos?” She asked, unable to hold back the question; she was more than a bit surprised. He did seem the type to watch videos of cute cats rolling around on the floor or watch little kittens clumsily make their way across the floor.

 

Creeps didn’t seem surprised or even bothered by her sudden intrusion or by her question. He just paused the video and turned to face her, flashing her a pleasant smile, “Yes. There doesn’t have to be a ‘type’ to find these enjoyable, Miss Mizuno.” He chuckled, motioning to a chair by one of the beds, “Pull up a seat. I’m sure you didn’t come in here for no reason.”

 

Hana nodded, grabbing the chair and pulling it closer to him before sitting down, “Um, yeah. I actually have a few things to ask about...” Creeps seemed entirely focused on her, not saying a thing yet still managing to get her to go on, “Well, for starters; do you know Ian Macleod?”

 

“Ah, yes. We haven’t talked much lately, though. Why do you ask?” Creeps tilted his head slightly.

 

“Oh, I was just wondering, um...” Hana tried to work out her words in her head, not wanting them to seem too weird, “He told me something about the statue at the Flower Festival that kind of gave me the impression that he knew about Magic and everything. So...Do you know if he’s...like me?”

 

Creeps shook his head, leaning back in his chair slightly, “Hm...It’s not my place to reveal anything that he may want to keep secret. So, I’ll just leave you with a ‘what do you think?’”

 

“Erm, okay. I guess I can live with that answer.” Alright, so she had a pretty solid theory with Ian, but no real way to prove it. That was going to be a fun thing to solve. “Um, anyways, Miss Shizuka was talking to me and she wanted me to tell you that you should start to help students balance work better.”

 

“Hm...I think I can work something out, even though it would probably be difficult. Monsters and other enemies don’t really care about school schedules.” Creeps mumbled the last part under his breath, barely loud enough for Hana to hear. She probably wasn’t supposed to. “I’ll talk to her and see what we can arrange; if I say it’s an extracurricular activity sort of thing, your workload might get lightened.”

 

“Alright. Thank you! I’m sure this will help the others out too.”

 

“Anything for my charges.” Creeps chuckled, “So, are there any more questions you have for me?”

 

Oh, right. Her original reason for coming to him; she almost forgot that she had planned to ask. Hana took a breath, praying to whoever would hear that she'd get a proper answer. “Well, my friends keep talking about something that happened at the Flower Festival three years ago. Problem is, they don't really explain _what_ happened. So...could you explain?”

 

Visibly stiffening, a gloomy cloud formed around Creeps, “Well, you have probably gathered that there was an...attack. And one that was in no way pleasant. It was caused by a creature made of the darkness we're trying to fight.”

 

“Alright… Um, Jirard said - or at least implied - that one or a few people close to him...died. Do you know who they were? I mean, I saw a picture at the memorial, but who were they?”

 

“Well, those two used to be part of a group called the B3, along with Satch and Jirard. They were two of the victims of the creature, along with another group. I don't have much more information than that; they were the ones in Jacques’ care.”

 

"Oh, so they were Jon's old group? That Arin guy and everyone else we fought at the festival?"

 

“Exactly.”

 

"But you said they were the victims of the attack! They seemed alive enough to me..." Hana shuddered, involuntarily. God, fighting something undead wouldn't be a pleasant experience.

 

"That doesn't mean they weren't attacked, that they weren't left untouched. Whatever happened to them managed to get them to switch sides. Or, at least, settle in the middle area between our light and corruption."

 

“What do you mean by corruption? I don't think I've heard of that term before.. ”

 

“I wouldn't worry about it. It's something I'm sure you won't be encountering for a while, so it's not important.”

 

Hana jumped, surprised at the sudden defensive bite to Creeps voice. Whatever corruption was, Hana had a feeling at she wouldn't want to know about it.

 

“Well, thank you for giving me some answers.” Hana said, rising to her feet, “But I have to leave. I'll talk to you later!”

 

The nurse nodded at her, giving her a “goodbye” right before the door closed.

 

Groaning, Hana leaned on the wall beside the door, taking off her glasses and pinching the bridge of her nose. It felt like she had the same number of questions, if not more, than she had started out with.

 

Whatever. She just had to get use to this, probably. Having a constant chatter of questions in her head.

 

Well, no sense in wallowing, maybe it would be a good time to find Jon...

 

* * *

 

Hana walked into the clubroom only to be tempted to walk straight back out by the sounds of some sort of loud discussion between Shane and Jon. She settled for standing just outside the doorway and praying it'd calm down.

 

"So you want me to train you?", Jon questioned loudly. He nodded thoughtfully as Hana wondered if this was about Shane nearly killing her during the Festival. "Okay, but, why?"

 

Shane waved his sketchbook in the air. It was indeed about that. "I need to know how to use this. And Hana," he pointed at Hana and her heart stopped. "If you're going to eavesdrop, I'd much rather you do it without being secretive."

 

A lump formed in the back of her throat as she tried to explain herself. "I wasn't trying to, I was just- I just..."

 

She braced herself for Shane to blow up at her, but instead he just shrugged. "Whatever. I don't care. Just don't interrupt."

 

Hana just nodded and sat down in the clubroom. She noticed the closet door in the back seemed to have a sparkling cloud around it, like someone had spilled some glitter in there.

 

Jon loudly cleared his throat as she did so. "As I was saying! Shane, you literally had never shown the slightest bit of magical prowess until last Sunday, so either that notebook has some sort of art demon sealed in it or you spontaneously developed magic. I need to know which!"

 

His response was scoff and a frown and a shake of the head. When Jon started wildly gesturing a wordless "come on!", Shane cleared his throat and gave a more vocal explanation. "No, you don't. All you need to know is that it seems to get worse when I get emotional."

 

"Emotional," Jon repeated. And then once more, like it was a eureka moment. "Emotional! So you need to know how to tame the beast known as your heart! Call upon those emotions, strengthen them, learn to use better!"

 

Another head shake from Shane. "No. I need to use them less, I need to know how to not let my emotions get so out of hand."

 

With a long, drawn-out sigh, Jon leaned forward on his desk, making Jacques jump. "Have you tried just- oh, I don't know, locking that sketchbook in a box somewhere?"

 

"Yes," Shane bluntly assured him. "It gets worse."

 

"Worse?" Jon raised an eyebrow. "Well it can't be a demon… What the hell is it, then?"

 

Shane's grin became almost smug. "That's classified."

 

After a long, drawn-out groan, Jon flung his hands onto the desk in resignation, causing Jacques to mutter something about theatricality being undesirable in a perch. "I'm your freaking friend!", Jon yelled at Shane. "Nothing's that classified!"

 

"I know, but," Shane shook his head, as if cutting himself off mid-thought. "Look, I just want you to respect my privacy and help. So, you in or not?"

 

It took Jon a moment to say anything, like he was considering the offer as thoroughly as possible. "Well, I guess, but why me? I- and Hana, you can testify to this- really suck at training people!"

 

Hana didn't actually think she was expected to answer, but an awkward silence signaled her to speak up. Well, Jon had admitted it himself, she thought, so there was no point in not being honest. "He really isn't that good..."

 

"Thank you!", Jon exclaimed, like she'd praised him rather than condemned his teaching ability. "So, why not like, Satch? Or Jared? Well, maybe not Jared, but why not Jirard? He's pretty much your best friend here, right?"

 

Shane's face dropped at the word "Jirard", but it took him until Jon finished speaking to say anything about it. "He's helped me plenty. I need a different perspective."

 

That sounded like a lot had been left unspoken. They'd seemed on the verge of a fight at the Festival, but Shane had seemed ready to fight anyone there, so she hadn't thought anything of it.

 

But if Jon had thought of it, he didn't show it. He just gave Shane a nod. "Oh, well, fine, I'll help. So, start tomorrow?"

 

"Sounds fine." Shane, clutching his sketchbook to his chest, got up and walked away, his eyes darting over the storage closet as he did so. Had he noticed the glitter in the air by it too?

 

"So, um, Jon," Hana started.

 

"Right, right, training." Jon sighed. "Look I- I'm not good at this training stuff, okay? Ask Jirard, or Jared, or hell, ask that kid with the guns, just not me, alright? I'm already busy with the play, and the talent show's coming up, I really want to put something on with Jacques. I have too much on my plate, and I'm not helping you."

 

"Wow, that- I didn't expect you to be honest about that. But you're right, this isn't working."

 

Jon pointed at himself and puffed out his chest. "Well, I can be honest when I want to be!"

 

A robotic monotone corrected him. "PBG got onto him about it last night."

 

Under his breath, Jon muttered "...Jacques, I almost had her."

 

"She deserves to know the truth," Jacques countered with all the energy of a dying battery. "Hana, I'm still open to helping you whenever I can."

 

"O-okay," she stuttered. She couldn't imagine asking a bird or a robot for help, and together? Well, Jacques still creeped her out the tiniest bit, but she had to say something else. "Thank you."

 

Jon stood up slowly and turned to his feathered companion. "Let's go, Jacques. See if we can get in some line practice, you're still a bit choppy on the delivery of the monologue."

 

They chattered endlessly until Hana could neither hear nor see them any more. And, just as she was about to go find Jirard and ask him, a voice crept up behind her.

 

"By the way, don't ask me to help you, I'm terrible at training people."

 

A surprised scream; Hana jumped and looked wildly around until her eyes met Jared's.

 

Quickly, Jared gave a smile that probably would have made her heart melt if she was Mai. "Sorry, did I scare you?", he questioned in a whisper that sounded more like a seduction tactic than an attempt to be quiet.

 

Hana could feel a blush creeping up her neck. "Yes! Sorry!"

 

Jared shook his head, and she could have sworn a few sparkles fell off him. Did he just form the sparkles naturally? Were they like dandruff or sweat? "No, don't apologize," he sparkled- er, said. "I should be apologizing to you, Miss Mizuno."

 

Yeah, okay, "Miss Mizuno" was a bit much. "Hana's fine, really!", she hastily assured him. Before he could say anything else.

 

"Hana, then." He nodded, like he was sealing it in his memory. "My apologies, I was just… well, they came in here and were yelling and I figured I should step out of the way."

 

"Into the storage closet?" That seemed… wrong. Hana really couldn't imagine why Jared would do that if not for eavesdropping purposes.

 

But all the same, he beamed brighter than most spotlights and kept chatting away. "Exactly! You should try it, I hide in there all the time! One of the secret passageways leads into there, so it's helpful for a quick escape!"

 

Hana decided to refrain from questioning why he didn't make one of those then. He was eavesdropping, there was no way around it.

 

"Anyways, ask Jirard or Satch, I'm terrible at teaching, and asking Continue to help you with anything is almost always a mistake."

 

"But Satch hates me."

 

"No, no, no. I'm his roommate, and I can tell you from years of experience, he doesn't hate you!", Jared practically vowed. "Far from it, he was really impressed with what I told him about your performance at the Festival! You were pretty amazing for someone as green as yourself, we both thought so."

 

That blush returned, she found herself inclined to look at her shoes rather than Jared. "Thanks… But wait, if he doesn't hate me, then why did he-"

 

"Well, um, it's a long story," he interrupted. "Let's just say he doesn't entirely… think you joining us is a good idea."

 

She remembered hearing something similar before. "That's what he said, but, I thought he was trying to spare my feelings."

 

He waved his hands as if brushing her off. "Nah, he just thinks you'll get in trouble with us. Well, that's the short version, at least."

 

"That's good to know," Hana muttered, but she didn't feel entirely relieved. It still sounded like there was something more to it. Between that and the Flower Festival Incident, was anyone going to be giving her a straight answer? Wait, she was going to ask Jared, right? Excitement swelled up in her chest. "Oh! Before I forget, can you tell me what happened at-"

 

"Crap!", Jared suddenly exclaimed, and the excitement rushed out of her like a deflating balloon. "Ah, I just forgot, I was supposed to be talking to my agent!" He pulled a phone out and started running back into the storage closet before Hana could question what exactly he meant by "agent". "See you later, Hana!", he called as he closed the door behind him.

 

Hana was left waving goodbye at empty air. "O-okay. Bye."

  
Yeah, she didn't feel like asking Jirard today. Tomorrow, maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! Sorry for the wait with this one. We're trying to work out a better schedule for things so chapters get out quicker!
> 
> But, as always, if there are any questions about the story or anything, you can go to http://magical-girl-asagao.tumblr.com to ask any questions~


	10. Draw Distance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hana hears something interesting from Jirard that sends her into a panicked frenzy.

The next day, Hana finally gathered her courage to go properly talk to Jirard. Well, actually, it wasn't so much courage, just willpower- Jirard was easily the least threatening guy on Normal Boots. Still, she didn't really want Shane to come up, and, when asking why Jon wasn't training her anymore.   
  
Yes, technically he'd quit saying he wasn't good at it, but Shane at least played into it a bit. She'd probably have to say why she came to Jirard of all people, at least.   
  
Mai had told her which room was his- she'd seen him leaving once while bringing something to someone named Jeff who'd missed class. (Apparently; Hana wasn't convinced the reason didn't have something to do with Jared, she found most of Mai's strange knowledge of Normal Boots did.) So, she went there, and bit the inside of her cheek as she forced herself to knock. Just… put her knuckles to the door. Easiest thing. Nothing to it.   
  
But, before she could knock, she found the door swung open, and with nothing but a glare, Shane Gill, of all people, emerged and swiftly walked past her.   
  
A lump formed in the back of her throat, had she gotten the wrong room? But, no, Jirard reopened the door a second afterwards and seemed to force himself to look at Hana. "O-oh! Hello, sorry if Shane scared you! He was just going to the clubroom, that's all."   
  
Was that really all? Well, Hana supposed she didn't have a right to pry, even if Shane had looked a bit upset. All she needed to do was calmly explain what she was doing outside the door of a boy she barely knew.   
  
"Sorry, um, is this a bad time?", she questioned. Okay, nice going Hana, she thought to herself. That explained a lot. Way to open.   
  
But, Jirard shook his head. "Nah, it's fine. Come in!"   
  
He held the door open for her, and as Hana entered the room, she realized quickly why Shane had been in the room: it was his. Considering half the room was covered in a mess of papers and art supplies, she couldn't imagine anyone else it could be. Slowly, she sat down on the foot of the bed on the other side of the room, the one covered in plastic figurines of kittens, and in much better order than Shane's.   
  
"So," Jirard started. "What brings you here?"   
  
She took a deep breath, time to start things properly. "I, um, Jon's training Shane now, so I don't have a teacher anymore, and-"   
  
"So you wanted to ask Shane why you couldn't train together?", Jirard finished. "Well, it's a bit of a long story, and I don't think-"   
  
"No, no!" Hana waved her hands in front of her as if to clear away the confusion. "I was just going to ask you to train me instead!"   
  
Jirard cocked his head to the side. "Train you? But you're already really good!"   
  
That's what Jared, and apparently Satch, had said too. But, she still needed to learn how to use her powers, right? "Um, but I-"   
  
With a tired sort of laugh, Jirard shook his head. "Hana, I'm gonna be honest, I couldn't teach you a thing. Our fighting styles are completely different, and you'd learn a lot more on the job anyways. I'll tell you what, how about you start coming on hunts with the rest of the team instead?"   
  
Wait, what? Was Jirard offering to let her actually join? No, surely not, he didn't mean the rest of the team as including her, that was just wishful thinking. He was just offering her to fight with them on a more regular basis, which seemed fair. Maybe even she'd learn more that way than from Jon.   
  
"Okay," she agreed. "Um, but, are you sure I know enough?"   
  
He just shrugged. "I mean, I never had any formal training, and I've done alright so far!"   
  
Slowly, she nodded. "Okay, I think…"   
  
Jirard suddenly tore off a piece of paper from a notebook lying on the floor on Shane's side. And, as he grabbed a pen from his own nightstand, Hana started to wonder, was Shane alright? He didn't seem like such a slob, at least to her, but his part of the room was an absolute wreck!   
  
Well, no one better to ask than his roommate, right? "Um, hey, uh, is Shane… alright?"   
  
"Shane? Oh, uh…" Jirard glanced around, his eyes lingering for a moment too long on his own bedside table, before sighing again. "He's been sorta messed up since… oh, I shouldn't say this, but, well, you of all people have a right to know."   
  
Her heart jumped to her throat. "A right to know what?"   
  
"Well, uh, his powers…", Jirard started. "Let's just say, he got them because of a girl with pink hair, and he's still a bit shaken up over it."   
  
Ice ran down Hana's back. "Wh-what did she… what did she do?"   
  
"Er, she was… she was like us, but her powers got a bit… contaminated," he said, making "contaminated" sound more like the name of a deadly disease than anything else. "With darkness and, well, things went all pear shaped and Shane, well… That's his business, not mine. I should stop."   
  
"C-contaminated?", Hana repeated. "What do you mean, 'contaminated'?"   
  
Another glance at the bedside table, Jirard looked oddly nervous. "I'm sorry, forget I said anything!"   
  
Fear was filling her veins, Hana felt herself shaking. Something about "But, is that something that happens to pink haired Magical Girls?"   
  
"Hana, it won't happen to you," Jirard assured her. Somehow, that made her feel about zero percent better. But, before she could say another word, he scribbled something down on the piece of paper he'd grabbed and handed it to her.   
  
"Call me if you need anything, alright?" He smiled kindly, but like he was tired. Well, tired of talking at least, and she waved and left without another word.   
  
But, what the hell was he talking about? What had happened to Shane?

 

Hana sighed, walking back to Primrose House. This frustration was starting to take its toll. She felt ready to scream, demand that her questions be matched with their answers. That was all she asked!

 

Before she knew it, she was in her room, slamming the door shut and leaning against it.

“Hana! What's u… Hey, why are you making that face?” Oh, right, Mai. Hana had known her roommate was going to ask questions, and a twinge of dread hit her chest for some reason.

 

Crossing the room, Hana plopped into bed, grabbing Mr. Bunny and holding him close to her chest as she curled up, “I'm just… frustrated. With all this Magical Girl stuff. I thought I'd get answers for all of this, that things would be explained to me, but all I'm getting are _more_ questions than I can keep track of. I'm getting sick of it...”

 

“Well...” Mai frowned, chewing on her pencil in thought, “Things are bound to be tough, right? I mean, you'll just have to do something to get your answers! Take life by the reigns and show it who's boss.” She phantomed grabbing reigns to drive her point home.

 

Hana groaned, “I can't do that! I'm just going to end up even more disliked than I already am...”

 

“Oh. It's that too, huh?” Mai shook her head, “Well, you'll never get on their good sides just moping in here. Maybe you should just _try_ and start up a civil conversation, she where that leads! I mean, they don't have much to build off of in terms of how you are as a person; show them your true colors and they can change their minds about you.”

 

Alright. Civil conversation. Hana supposed that she could manage that well enough. So, she nodded, putting Mr. Bunny down and standing up. “You're right. How hard can it be...?”

 

“‘Atta girl!” Mai laughed, “Already getting you to break your shell. Now, go and talk, okay?”

 

Hana nodded, calling a thanks over her shoulder to her friend as the door closed. Alright, she could do this. Where to start, though…

 

Shane. Shane would be the best one to try and get through to first. Plus, he could be able to answer at least one of her questions. Maybe that'd be the best way to start things off?

 

Hana started to walk, leaving Primrose and going towards the main school building. She had a sneaking suspicion that he could be lurking in the clubroom. Hopefully her hunch was right.

* * *

As she entered the Normal Boots room, a bit of relief flooded Hana's veins. Shane was there like she'd hoped, sketching something with intense focus. 

  
"Shane! Th-there you are!" She was shaking and out of breath, and only felt worse when Shane's eyes narrowed as they darted up and met her own. He looked incredibly tired, like spite alone was keeping his eyes open.   
  
It took him a minute to put his pencil down and tuck it behind his ear. "Were you looking for me?", he asked, making it sound more like an accusation than a question.   
  
"Um, yes, actually…" She took a deep breath, tried to get all those wild thoughts in order. "I… I want to know something."   
  
He sighed loudly, a clear indication that he didn't want to help her. But, he propped his head up on his hand and looked at her, indicating she could go on.   
  
"Magical Girls with pink hair… um, from what I understand, they can, er, their powers can get contaminated and end up hurting people… C-can you tell me more about that?"   
  
No, of course he couldn't, she'd been far too vague, but he stared at her like she'd grown a second head for what felt like far too long before suddenly standing up. "Who told you about that?", he practically snarled. "What did they tell you?"   
  
"J-Jirard was just trying to explain why I couldn't train with you!", Hana quickly explained. "Just said you'd had some bad experiences with pink haired Magical Girls in the past, and that's how you got your powers!"   
  
A few slow blinks from Shane. "Jirard told you?", he questioned. Hana nodded.   
  
The room went dead silent. Neither of them said a word until Shane picked up his sketchbook and started to leave.   
  
"W-wait!", Hana called back. "I'm sorry if I upset you! I just want to make sure that doesn't happen to me!"   
  
He started walking faster, practically sprinting away. Hana knew she shouldn't say anything else, she'd probably dug up some terrible memories. But, she did know that she needed to know if she'd end up hurting anyone like he'd been hurt. So, after a moment's deliberation, she decided to go after him.   
  
By the time she started running after him, he was already halfway to the door leading outside. She didn't catch up to him until well after they were both outside, quite a ways into the field beside the school. All that time, she knew she should turn back, that she could ask someone else, that he didn't want to talk.   
  
But one thing kept her from stopping: she wanted answers. So many times, she'd been left with nothing but questions. About the Festival two years ago, about Jon's former team, about Ian, about her own abilities! No one had given them to her yet, and Shane could answer at least some of them if she could just get him to talk to her!   
  
So, when Shane finally stopped, she took her chance to rush forwards and steel her courage.   
  
"I'm sorry I upset you," she started. "But, please, I need to know what I need to stop from happening!"   
  
Shane whipped his head around too fast, a strange grin on his face. His eyes were sunken in and ringed with dark, like he hadn't slept in days.   
  
"You want to know what happened to me?" Shane was clutching his sketchbook to his chest like he was trying to force it shut, in a way that, combined with what he'd done at the festival, made Hana feel like she should be on guard. "You really wanna know?"   
  
A part of her wanted to say "no, not anymore", but this was an answer and it was being offered to her, she couldn't refuse it. So she gulped and nodded.   
  
"Emily, she was like you. Pink hair, magic, all that." Shane seemed to be almost slurring his words, Hana was starting to think he may have literally not slept in days. "Said she loved me and then nearly got me killed over and over and over again! And I was so, so, so useless! I couldn't save myself, couldn't do a damned thing to help her! But she was the golden child, everyone thought that damn prophecy was about her! I thought she was invincible until she finally snapped."   
  
He started laughing, his voice came out in an oddly high pitch. "And, well, Jirard, he told you the rest! Thought I could trust him. Wow, was I stupid for thinking he cared about me any more than anyone else! Thought if given the choice between keeping his word to me and helping some nothing broad he just met, he might think a teensy bit harder before deciding to cheat!"   
  
Cheat? That was an odd way to put it. Was finding a compromise cheating? "Shane, I'm sorry…", she muttered. "But-"   
  
"What, are you wondering what's gonna happen to you?" Shane tilted his head, and Hana realized all at once why she was so creeped out by him like this. He was more open than she'd ever seen him, he was spilling out anything and everything rather than guarding himself. "If you're careful, not a thing! Emily was reckless as all hell, she thought nothing could beat her! But, but, but, she went too far, and when she finally lost it, I was right there! And all the power she was giving off as she faded, it went to me! She'd already started waking up what fragment of magic I had inside me, but I absorbed some of her's while she was all dark."   
  
Shane's eyes flashed like they had at the Festival, all filled with what seemed to be a pale pink scribble. He kept getting closer to Hana, who was too scared to move back. They were practically nose-to-nose before Shane finally pulled away with another laugh.   
  
"And as for me, well…" He turned away and began speaking in a lower register, something closer to the Shane she knew. "Haven't had a proper night's sleep since she got herself killed and left me with the baggage. I don't know how to take them, I'm just filled with nightmares, and if I could just master this, maybe Jirard wouldn't have to deal with me waking him up in the middle of the night with screams."   
  
The fact he said it so calmly, it sent shivers running down Hana's spine. "I'm sorry…", she muttered; she couldn't think of anything else to say.   
  
His sketchbook was twitching and jumping, like something was trying to get out of it. Shane's eyes flashed again, for a bit longer this time. They flashed back to normal for just a second, then let off a burst of pink light. His breathing was growing unsteady, Hana wasn't sure if she should run for her life or run for help.   
  
Either way, she started backing away. Shane dropped to his knees, looking up at her. "Hana… You'll hurt me too, or at least someone…", he explained. "That's why… th-that's why…"   
  
He drew in a sharp breath and his sketchbook fell out of his arms and opened on the ground. Hana kept moving away as strange white and black static began to fall out of it. It looked like the contents of the sketchbook itself were escaping.   
  
It was some sort of nightmarish storm of scribbles, crawling out of the book and filling the air. In the black and white, she could catch glimpses of things that looked coherent. Mostly nightmarish monsters, but a few figures that resembled people she recognized. And, beside Shane, the figure of a girl with long pigtails and fierce eyes was standing tall. The figure's hair shone faintly with the same pink light flashed in the pages of Shane's sketchbook and eyes.   
  
Hana forced herself to look away and run, but as she did so, the scribbles started coming straight for her.

  
A scream escaped Hana's mouth. She ducked down, curling up, putting her hands over her neck. Before she could process she was doing it, petals rose to shield her from the onslaught of scribbles on every side.   
  
The wall seemed to be sturdy enough, she could see the black and white through the gaps, but none seemed to be getting in. Hana felt amazed by her own abilities. Was that the power everyone kept saying she had?   
  
Well, even if she was safe, that didn't change the fact that Shane had just had a complete meltdown right in front of her and that she was trapped in the middle of it. What could she do? Try to run and get help?   
  
She pulled her jacket back up on her shoulders, it'd half fallen off as she'd been scrambling around. Her hand slid in her pocket without thinking and brushed against her phone.   
  
Phone… Oh. That'd been kind of obvious, actually. Anyone she could possibly need to ask help from was fairly closeby, and Jirard had given her his number. She dialed it and, after a few rings, a staticy voice picked up. "Hana?"   
  
"We're in the field by the school," she quickly explained. "Shane freaked out and now he's kind of attacking me? I'm safe for now but, I don't know how much longer-"   
  
"I'll be right there," Jirard assured her, and hung up.   
  
Okay, so, help was coming. Did she have anyone else's number? Just Mai's- she'd been too nervous to ask for any of the guys', and Mai wouldn't be much help here. So should she just wait until backup arrived? She hated to do that, it made her feel so useless, but it was probably her safest bet.


End file.
